LPR’s Pasechnik votes in Russian State Duma election “for Donbass peace, prosperity”

Lugansk People’s Republic Head Leonid Pasechnik has voted in the election to the State Duma lower house of the Russian parliament for “prosperity and peace” in Donbass.

“Donbass residents are taking part in the election of the top legislative body of the Russian Federation for the first time,” Pasechnik wrote on Twitter. “I have cast a ballot for prosperity and peace in our land. It is only through integration with Russia that we can rebuild, develop and move on with confidence.”

In an address to the LPR residents on the occasion of the election, Pasechnik said that “the Russian leadership foremost gave us the opportunity to feel like we belong to Russia and the Russian World, and exercise the rights and freedoms for which we stood up in 2014.”

“I’m sure that this event will contribute to the strengthening of integration between Russia and Donbass,” Pasechnik said urging all residents to take part in the election.

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 provide consultations on online voting, and process requests from LPR residents with Russian citizenship who wish 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; on June 14, the first group of LPR residents received Russian passports. 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*r