Donbas residents with Russian passports may vote in elections to State Duma / Photo from UNIAN

Residents of the temporarily occupied territories of Donbas who have obtained Russian passports will be able to vote in the elections to the State Duma.

That's according to Secretary General of the United Russia Party Andrei Turchak, as reported by the Russian news agency TASS.

Read alsoDangers of Russia's efforts to naturalize Donbas residents"There should not be such a situation when a citizen of the Russian Federation, regardless of the territory or place where he or she lives, would be infringed on his political rights <...> These 500,000 people [in Donbas] who have taken Russian citizenship, they will take part in the elections to the State Duma," he said.

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The elections to the State Duma are scheduled for September 19, 2021.

Russian passports in occupied Donbas

  • Russian President Vladimir Putin on April 24, 2019, signed a decree on a simplified procedure for granting Russian citizenship to residents of the temporarily occupied territories of Donbas. The first passports under this procedure were issued on July 14, 2019.
  • The documents are issued in Russia's Rostov region.
  • The Eastern Human Rights Group (EHRG) in November 2020 said over 164,000 Ukrainians living in the temporarily occupied territories of Donbas had obtained Russian passports.
  • The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has extended the list of Russian passports that are not recognized by Ukrainian authorities.
  • Earlier, Russia said almost 530,000 residents of Donbas had obtained Russian passports.