Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree easing the citizenship application process for orphans and disabled persons from Ukraine and the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics”. The corresponding decree was published on Russia’s official legal information portal.
“Orphans and children deprived of parental care, as well as disabled citizens of the Donetsk People’s Republic, the Luhansk People’s Republic or Ukraine, may acquire citizenship of the Russian Federation under a simplified procedure,” the document reads.
Last week, Putin signed a decree easing Russian citizenship rules for residents of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, currently occupied by Russian forces. According to the document, Russian government bodies must consider citizenship applications filed by residents of these regions within three months.
On the same day, the pro-Russian “government” of the Zaporizhzhia region announced the region’s plans to be incorporated into Russia. In turn, the new “officials” of Melitopol, a city in the Zaporizhzhia region, announced that they would soon begin to issue Russian passports to everyone wishing to receive one.
