The United States has condemned Russia’s decision to introduce a simplified procedure for issuing Russian passports to Russian-controlled residents of southern Ukraine. Washington described it as an attempt to subjugate the population, AFP reported. The plan is “Russia’s tactic of subjugating the Ukrainian people – to impose its will by force,” said State Department spokesman Ned Price, adding that the United States “strongly rejects” such plans.
Russian President Vladimir Putin today signed a decree facilitating the granting of Russian citizenship and obtaining Russian passports from residents of Ukraine’s Kherson and Zaporizhia regions occupied by Russia. This is another step towards “Russification” of the two regions, DPA notes. By bringing these two Ukrainian regions under its control, Moscow has established a land link between the pro-Russian separatist republics in eastern Ukraine and the Crimean peninsula, which it annexed in 2014.
At the same time, Ukraine is considering the introduction of visas for Russian citizens. President Volodymyr Zelensky “supported the need to tighten the control regime for the entry of citizens of the Russian Federation into Ukraine” and instructed the Prime Minister to develop the issue of introducing visas for Russians. This is stated in the response of the head of state to a petition of citizens who signed online, BGNES reports. “Against the background of full-scale Russian aggression, this issue is important and urgent, so I support the need to tighten the control regime for the entry of Russian citizens into Ukraine. In view of the above, a corresponding letter was sent to the Prime Minister of Ukraine D. Shmihal with a request to work on this issue, “said the President.
The petition was registered on February 11 by Mazura Nikita Viktorovich. The document speaks of the need to “introduce a visa regime for Russian citizens trying to enter the territory of Ukraine.” After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Kyiv cut off diplomatic relations with Russia.
Russia has a special program to take compatriots abroad
Recall that in 2016 a record number of Ukrainians asked for Russian passports.
Ukrainians are visibly easier to obtain Russian citizenship than other CIS citizens, according to information from the press service of the Russian Interior Ministry, quoted by RT. At the same time, they are moving not only from the war-torn Donbass, but also from the central parts of Ukraine – Kyiv, Vinnytsia and Kharkiv region.
In Russia, this is a state policy, where a state program has been adopted to assist in the voluntary resettlement in Russia of compatriots living abroad.
According to statistics, in 2016 more than 100 thousand Ukrainians acquired a Russian passport, which is almost 50% more than in 2015.
In second place is Kazakhstan with 38 thousand people. There, a quarter of the population is ethnic Russian, and Russian is the official language in business. Graduates of Russian universities remain in Russia.
In 2016, 23,000 Uzbeks and 22,000 Armenians became Russian citizens.
