Photo: AP/TASS
The simplification of the procedure for obtaining Russian citizenship for residents of the Donbass is caused by the fact that the actions of Kiev put them in unbearable conditions. It was stated by Russian Envoy to the UN Vasily Nebenzya during a speech at a meeting of the Security Council,
RIA Novosti reports.
Nebenzya recalled that hundreds of thousands of people from the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics had applied to the Russian authorities for citizenship long before the decree was signed by the head of state.
Within five years since the beginning of the conflict in the South-East of Ukraine, more than nine hundred thousand citizens moved from this region to Russia. In total, today the number of Ukrainian citizens in Russia has exceeded two million. Over three hundred thousand of them want to get a Russian passport. Nebenzya believes that these figures are the most vivid evidence of a strong need for Russian citizenship among these people.
The envoy explained to his foreign colleagues that Moscow did not demand from citizens of the Donbass to renounce Ukraine’s citizenship. The Russian authorities only provide such an opportunity to residents of certain districts of Donetsk and Lugansk regions.
Russkiy Mir
reported earlier that the residents of the Donbass would be able to get a Russian passport in a simplified procedure. The relevant document was signed by the Russian President Vladimir Putin. The explanatory note stated that the decision was aimed at protecting the human rights and freedoms.
The decree on the simplification of obtaining citizenship caused angry reaction from Kiev. Ukraine already called on residents of the Donbass to refuse Russian passports. Petr Poroshenko called the actions of the Russian side "interference in the internal affairs of the country."
Russkiy Mir
