The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine demands that Russia immediately cancel all unlawful decisions on the passportization of Ukrainian citizens aimed at simplifying the procedure for granting Russian citizenship to certain categories of Ukrainian citizens and eliminate their negative consequences.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine strongly condemns the next step of the Kremlin regime to expand the categories of Ukrainian citizens who may be granted Russian citizenship in a simplified procedure. This is another fact of gross violation of international law norms and Ukraine's sovereignty by the Russian Federation," the ministry said in a statement on Wednesday, May 1.
The Foreign Ministry emphasizes that all "legal" acts by the Russian authorities on granting Russian citizenship to Ukrainians are legally void.
"Presidential decree of the Russian Federation of April 20, 2019 No. 187 'on certain categories of foreign citizens and stateless persons who shall be entitled to apply for admittance to Russian citizenship in a simplified manner' promulgated today – like Russia's all previous and possible legal regulations aimed at granting Russian citizenship to Ukrainian citizens in an unlawful manner – were, are and will be legally void. They will not have any legal consequences and will not be recognized by the Ukrainian side," the ministry said.
The Ukrainian ministry also says that the declared purpose of the Russian side's decisions, namely "protection of human and civil rights and freedoms " is especially cynical, because Ukrainian citizens' rights and freedoms have been grossly violated since the beginning of Russia's armed aggression and occupation of Ukraine's sovereign territory – the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, as well as certain areas in Ukraine's Donetsk and Lugansk region.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine categorically demands that the Russian side urgently cancel all illegal decisions on the passportization of Ukrainian citizens, and eliminate their negative consequences. Ukraine reserves the right to take effective measures to protect its national security, the legal rights and interests of Ukrainian citizens in line with international law and legislation of Ukraine," the statement said.
The Ukrainian side will continue to work actively with international partners to tighten the consolidated sanctions pressure on the Kremlin regime.
Read also"Hey, EU!": MEP Harms calls on EU to respond to Putin's move on passports in Donbas
"Ukraine's foreign diplomatic institutions have been instructed to immediately inform foreign capitals about the 'passport aggression' by the Russian Federation. We expect that our international partners tighten sanctions against the Kremlin regime. The relevant note of protest will be immediately handed over to the Russian Foreign Ministry," the Ukrainian ministry added.
As UNIAN reported earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin on April 24 signed a decree on the expedited procedure for the issue of Russian passports to residents of temporarily occupied Donbas. On April 27, Putin said Russia could simplify the procedure for granting Russian citizenship to all Ukrainians – not only to those who reside in Russia-occupied districts in the east of Ukraine.
On April 29, a center opened in the town of Novoshakhtinsk in Rostov Oblast to issue Russian passports to residents of Russia-occupied districts in Ukraine's Luhansk region.
On April 30, a center opened in the village of Pokrovskoye in Rostov Oblast's Neklinovsky district to issue Russian passports to residents of Russia-occupied districts in Ukraine's Donetsk region.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 1 signed a decree on a simplified procedure for granting Russian citizenship to certain categories of Ukrainian citizens.
In particular, such right is given to the citizens of Ukraine who do not hold citizenship (nationality) of another state, as well as to stateless persons who were born and permanently resided in the territories of the occupied Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, and left the said territories before March 18, 2014, as well as their children, including adopted, spouses and parents
