Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree authorizing the expulsion of residents of Ukrainian territories who have not taken Russian citizenship and come under Moscow’s control. Document text published on the Kremlin website.
It stipulates that until September 30, 2023, Ukrainian citizens living in the Lugansk and Donetsk people’s republics, as well as in the Russian-controlled territories of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, must obtain Russian citizenship.
Those who decide not to comply with this requirement are required to declare their desire to retain Ukrainian citizenship and their refusal to take the oath of Russian citizenship within the same period. These people, according to a presidential decree, will be able to stay in their place of residence until July 1, 2024, after which they will be considered foreign citizens or stateless persons.
The decree also provides for the possibility of their expulsion if they are accused of creating a threat to national security or of planning crimes of an extremist and terrorist nature. To what territory it is planned to deport them, the decree does not say.
In July 2019, Putin signed a decree simplifying the acquisition of Russian citizenship for residents of the entire territory of the Lugansk and Donetsk regions, including those controlled at the time by the Ukrainian authorities.
On April 24, 2019, Putin simplified the procedure for obtaining citizenship for residents of “certain regions of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine” (DNR and LNR). The head of the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pavlo Klimkin, then described this decision as “continuation of aggression and interference in internal affairs”.
On May 1, 2019, Putin also signed a decree aimed at simplifying the acquisition of citizenship for Ukrainian citizens who do not have citizenship of other countries and who lived in Crimea until March 2014, that is i.e. before its annexation to Russia. Ukrainian citizens who hold a refugee certificate, a residence permit, a temporary residence permit in Russia or a certificate for temporary asylum in Russia fall into the same category.
Read the Latest Ukraine War News on The Eastern Herald.
