10:22 02.05.2019

Ukraine strongly condemns Russia's decision on expedited issue of Russian passports in occupied Donbas

2 min read
Ukraine strongly condemns Russia's decision on expedited issue of Russian passports in occupied Donbas

Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly condemns a decree signed by the Russian president on expanding the categories of Ukrainian citizens who can be granted Russian citizenship through the expedited procedure, the ministry's press service has said.

"The Russian president's No. 187 decree of April 29, 2019, published today, on certain categories of foreign citizens and stateless persons who have the right to apply for citizenship of the Russian Federation in a simplified manner, like all previous and possible future legal acts of the Russian Federation, is aimed at providing citizens of Ukraine with Russian citizenship in an unlawful manner; [it] was, is and will be legally void, will have no legal consequences and will not be recognized by the Ukrainian authorities," the ministry said in a statement posted on its official website on Wednesday evening.

The ministry emphasizes that the Russian Federation will be required to "urgently cancel all unlawful decisions about passportization of citizens of Ukraine and eliminate their negative consequences."

The Ukrainian side will continue to work actively with international partners on strengthening the consolidated sanction-based pressure on the Kremlin regime over the issue of Russian passports in Russia-occupied Donbas.

"We expect our international partners to toughen the sanctions against the Kremlin regime," the ministry said.

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