The Russian Foreign Ministry recalled that in 2014 Kiev introduced the financial, economic, transport and energy blockade of the Donbass, making residents of this region of the country “de facto stateless.”
“A few days ago, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine opened criminal proceedings in connection with the“ compulsory ”issuance of passports of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic to the residents of Donbass. This is the height of cynicism: first, to deprive people of access to basic vital services, and then when they, adapting to the circumstances, try to solve pressing problems and begin criminal prosecution against them, ”the Russian ministry emphasized.
At the same time, according to the agency, some countries of the European Union, which refuse to recognize Russian passports issued for humanitarian reasons, have joined the “tactics of strangling the inhabitants of Donbass”.
“We consider this a direct discrimination and violation of human rights. The right to a free choice of citizenship is guaranteed by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 1997 European Convention on Citizenship and other international documents ... Crimeans and Donbass residents are punished for the “wrong” choice of citizenship, ”the Foreign Ministry noted.
In Moscow, such cases were called "typical manifestations of double standards" for the sake of momentary political interests.
Earlier, the prosecutor's office of Ukraine opened a criminal case due to the issuance of LPR passports.
At the end of January, it also became known that in 2019, 227 thousand residents of the self-proclaimed DPR and LPR received Russian passports.