Claims that the issuance of Russian passports to Donbas residents will prove costly to the Russian budget are "horror stories," Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

"As for the discussion of this issue, I believe in the discussion of this issue, especially in terms of these 'horror stories' about the Russian budget, our public sector employees, the people or the political forces that don't want Russia to help people living in Donbas in any way are spreading those 'horror stories,'" he said, replying to an Interfax question, at a press conference in Beijing.

Russia is considering facilitating the citizenship acquisition not only for residents of the self-proclaimed Donbas republics, but also Ukrainian citizens, he said.

"Actually, we are considering facilitating the acquisition of our citizenship for Ukrainian citizens," Putin said.