France, Germany and Great Britain have condemned the decision of the President of Russia on the simplified procedure for granting of Russian citizenship to Ukrainians in Russia-occupied areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions (ORDLO).

"France firmly condemns the decision to grant Russian nationality in some areas, thereby dealing a blow to the Minsk agreements after the election of a new President who pledged to extend a hand to people in eastern Ukraine. The Russian Federation is demonstrating a lack of political will to implement the accords, and disdain for its commitments," French Ambassador to the UN François Delattre said during a meeting of the UN Security Council on Thursday.

He said the move by the Russian side could not contribute to resolving the conflict.

UK deputy permanent representative to the UN Jonathan Allen also condemned the decision.

"Why are we here? We are here because Russia sent troops to Crimea and later grabbed it after an illegitimate pretense at a referendum held at the barrel of a Russian gun. Russia's actions were clearly illegal. Some 100 member UN states agreed in a General Assembly resolution. …Russia sent troops in support of separatists in eastern Ukraine and continues to destabilize those regions. … We condemn the recent decision of President Putin about passports. This is further evidence of Russia's aggressive actions to destabilize Ukraine, undermine security, sovereignty and territorial integrity," he said.

German Ambassador to the UN Christoph Heusgen also condemned Putin's decree.

"Your president, President Putin, signed a decree on the passports on April 24, on the international day of multilateralism. We all at the UN General Assembly spoke about the need to follow international order based on the rules. And you demonstrated your disregard for the international rules based order," he said, speaking to Russia's Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya.