Donbass residents who plan to vote in the Russian State Duma election will be able to cast their ballots for the deputies who will defend their interests, said chairman of the Lugansk Construction Veterans social organization Nikolay Sobol.
“It is important to select the deputies who will support us, who will stand for Donbass and adopt laws and recommendations towards making our life better. That’s why I’ll vote,” the press service of the Mir Luganschine social movement quoted Sobol as saying.
The veteran said that State Duma deputies “make a large contribution to the protection of Donbass from neo-fascists.”
“I’m a child of war; I lived through hunger and cold. We suffered all hardships for the sake of bright future. It was hard, but we know that we had a future, a strong country, a victorious country that protected us from fascists. That state no longer exists but its successor, Russia, is protecting Donbass from neo-fascists now,” he said.
Sobol added that he and his family had “long obtained Russian citizenship.”
“Our grandchildren helped us apply for voting in the election. I have never voted online; I find it very unusual. However, our grandchildren and children keep up with the times, they explained and showed everything to me. I’m glad that I’ll be able to vote from home; it’s very convenient for old people. Our family is waiting for September 17,” the veteran said.
On July 20, Russia’s Central Election Commission approved the procedure for Donbass residents who have Russian citizenship to vote in the Russian parliamentary election.
Pursuant to LPR Head Leonid Pasechnik’s order, the Republic opened more than 140 information centers that provided consultations on online voting and processed requests from LPR residents with Russian citizenship who wished to vote in Russia’s Rostov region.
Starting July 1, LPR Migration Service offices began to accept applications from LPR residents for fast track personal pension account number and account registration on Russia’s government services portal. Mir Luganschine social movement offices provide consultations on obtaining personal pension account number (SNILS).
On April, 24, 2019, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree easing citizenship rules for residents of the Lugansk People’s Republic and the Donetsk People’s Republic. The first center for LPR residents seeking Russian citizenship opened in Lugansk on May 6; the first group of LPR residents received Russian passports on June 14. The Republic currently has such centers in all towns and districts. On April 24, 2020, Putin signed a law exempting Donbass Republics residents from paying the state fee for conferment of citizenship.
As of mid-June 2021, more than 250,000 LPR residents had been granted fast track Russian citizenship. According to first deputy chairman of the Russian parliament committee on CIS affairs, Eurasian integration and relations with compatriots Viktor Vodolatsky, over 600,000 Donbass residents had already obtained fast track Russian citizenship. *i
