Over 600 thousand Donbass residents obtain Russian passports - Duma lawmaker
SocietyThe first LPR residents obtained Russian passports under a simplified procedure on June 14, 2019. By the end of January 2021, the number of Donbass residents with Russian passports had exceeded 400,000.
More than 600,000 Donbass residents obtained fast track Russian citizenship, Russian lawmaker, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee for CIS Affairs, Eurasian integration and Relations with Compatriots Viktor Vodolatsky said.
Speaking at the opening of the Russian Citizens Forum in Lugansk, he said that the event is "a landmark one for Russian citizens living in Donbass".
Currently, 611 thousand LPR and DPR residents have obtained Russian citizenship, and the number is growing. I think, by the end of the year there will be two million Russian citizens in Donbass.
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. LPR Head Leonid Pasechnik thanked Russia for this move and ordered the ministries concerned to create the necessary conditions for accepting residents’ Russian citizenship application documents. The first centre for LPR residents seeking Russian citizenship opened in Lugansk on May 6. The Republic currently has such centres in all towns and districts. On April 24, 2020, Putin signed the law exempting Donbass Republics residents from paying the state fee for conferment of citizenship. *t
