Vyacheslav Nikonov: Initiative to Simplify Provision of Russian Citizenship Deserves Support
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The Russian government is preparing legislation on the simplification of the provision of Russian citizenship to people from the former Soviet Union. According to Vyacheslav Nikonov, State Duma Deputy and Chairman of the Management Board of the Russkiy Mir Foundation, this will provide a global impulse for the entire Russian world:
“The initiative to simplify the provision of Russian citizenship deserves support, and right now this support is coming from many sources. At one time the incorrect decision was made to ban dual citizenship. At present those who want citizenship must give up citizenship in the country where they are living. America, for example, was never worried about how many passports its citizens have. If they are fit to live in the US, they live there and have American citizenship. At the same time, people can have as many other passports as they want,” Nikonov told the National News Service.
In the current situation, the existing limitations on receipt of citizenship are not beneficial to our country, Nikonov believes. The expansion of opportunities to receive Russian citizenship, he says, could present a number of advantages – political, economic and more.
“Russia is a country facing a situation where a large number of Russian speakers live outside its borders while the Russian Federation is as they say demographically insufficient,” the Duma deputy notes. “Of course, the enormous Russian world is a great reserve for our country. It is a cultural, political, economic and demographic reserve. It is an opportunity for the Russian state to reinforce the position of Russian in the world, to strengthen the position of the Russian language, to great powerful Russian communities outside the boundaries of the country. This was not done earlier primarily due to financial considerations. It was believed that too much money would have to be spent on pensions and other social benefits. But in my view, the political, economic and other advantages of introducing this outweigh those economic reasons.”
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