“The number of applicants will grow”: residents of the DPR and LPR filed nearly 90 thousand applications for citizenship of the Russian Federation

Residents of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics filed nearly 90 thousand applications for Russian citizenship in a simplified manner. About this RT told the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia.

“From the beginning of the implementation of the presidential decree ... more than 87 thousand applications for admission to the citizenship of the Russian Federation were adopted in a simplified manner, decisions regarding admission to citizenship were made with regard to 49 thousand people,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

At the moment, residents of the republics have received more than 35 thousand Russian documents, specified in the department.

“Over 35 thousand passports of a citizen of the Russian Federation, identity cards ... in the territory of the Russian Federation, and more than 22 thousand ... foreign passports were issued to residents of certain regions of Donetsk and Lugansk regions of Ukraine,” the department added.

Such data demonstrate that in the DPR and LPR they want to be more closely connected with Russia, said Anton Bredikhin, Ph.D. (Hist.), Scientific director of the Center for Ethnic and International Studies.

“In principle, for the short period that has passed since the adoption of the decree, these figures are very good. The presence of Russian citizenship means that people see their personal future and the future of their families in close contact, integration with the Russian Federation. Kiev, in spite of perhaps a relaxed policy towards the republics, nevertheless cut off a part of the country's population from itself. Citizens of the LPR and DPR will continue to receive Russian citizenship, followed by other citizens of Ukraine. In the future, there will be even new trends and steps to bring our peoples closer, and not to divide them, ”Bredikhin said in an interview with RT.

As previously noted in the DPR itself, one of the main tasks of the republic is to maximize integration into the Russian space.

"The number of applicants will grow"

More and more residents of Donbass will seek to obtain Russian documents, said political analyst Yuri Svetov.

“People hope that the citizenship of the Russian Federation will give them some kind of guarantee of additional protection ... Uncertainty about how the Minsk agreements will be implemented, whether Steinmeier’s formula will be implemented or Ukraine will refuse it in every way - this all leads to to the fact that, as it seems to me, the number of people wishing to obtain Russian citizenship will increase, ”Svetov said in an interview with RT.

According to the Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots Viktor Vodolatsky, today the number of people wishing to obtain Russian citizenship, according to preliminary estimates, is about 3 million people.

“They (data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. - RT ) indicate that most citizens of the DPR and LPR have decided that their life is connected with Russia. They do not want to live in a country where history is distorted ... Citizens want expedited decisions to be taken on the territory of the republics. Queues do not decrease. Extradition points operate normally. There are enough people to ensure the full amount of special documents of the passport and visa services of the LPR and DPR. The number of projected individuals who want to obtain Russian citizenship today is about 3 million, ”RT Vodolatsky said.

In addition, as evidenced by a survey by the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, about 86% of Donbass residents would like to receive a Russian passport.

Solve humanitarian problems

The decree on the simplified procedure for obtaining Russian passports by residents of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin on April 24. According to the document, a decision on the issue of granting citizenship of the Russian Federation should be made within three months from the date of submission of documents.

• Russian President Vladimir Putin
• kremlin.ru

In July, the Russian leader simplified the country's citizenship regime. So, not only Ukrainians who lived in “separate regions of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions of Ukraine”, but also residents of these regions as a whole can count on a new order.

According to Putin, the law is designed to solve the humanitarian problems of the population of Donbass and is not aimed at creating any problems for Kiev. In addition, to obtain a Russian passport does not need a renunciation of Ukrainian citizenship.

In Ukraine, in turn, they reacted sharply to the initiative of Russia. So, in the country they began to interrogate residents of Donbass who received Russian passports and collect information about them.

At the same time, the Russian authorities emphasize that simplifying the procedure for acquiring citizenship does not violate international law.

“There is a European Convention on Citizenship, and it says in black and white that any state itself determines who can be its citizen. This, in my opinion, would be enough. For many years, EU countries - Hungary, Romania, Poland - have been accepting citizens of Ukraine into their citizenship. You know this very well. I wonder if you are interested in the reasons for the positions of these countries and why so far you have not paid any attention to the problems of issuing passports of other states to residents of Ukraine? ”Said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov following talks with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas.