The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic has stated that the simplification of procedure for granting Russian passports to Ukrainian citizens living in the occupied areas of Donbas undermines chances for the peaceful solution of the military conflict that is ongoing in eastern Ukraine.
"Russia's decision to simplify the issue of Russian passports to Ukrainian citizens living in the #Donetsk and #Luhansk regions is another step that undermines the chances for a peaceful solution to the conflict with #Ukraine," the Czech Foreign Ministry wrote on Twitter.
"It is an attack against Ukrainian sovereignty and contradicts the Minsk agreements," the diplomats stressed.
As UNIAN reported earlier, on April 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the simplified procedure for issuing Russian passports to residents of the temporarily occupied Donbas.
The Kremlin explained that Putin made such a decision "to protect human and civil rights and freedoms," on the basis of "generally accepted principles and norms of international law."
In this regard, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has called on the European Union to step up sanctions against Russia during the next review of the existing regime scheduled for June.
