Simplified procedures for issuing passports to residents of Luhansk, Donetsk regions of Ukraine internal affair of Russia – Kremlin

13:33, 18.07.2019 1 min read

 The issuance of Russian passports to residents of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions of Ukraine is an internal affair of Russia, in the same way as the issuance of Ukrainian IDs is an internal affair of Ukraine, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov told reporters, commenting on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's order to study the issuing of passports to ethnic Ukrainians who live in other states.

When asked whether Zelensky's initiative was a response to Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to broaden the simplified procedures for issuing Russian passports to residents of Ukraine, Peskov said: "It's an internal affair of Ukraine, in the same way as it's an internal affair of Russia to make the decisions made by the [Russian] president when he signed the relevant decree."