Over 25,000 residents of occupied Donbas granted Russian citizenship

The head of the Russian Interior Ministry’s Main Department for Migration Issues, Valentina Kazakova, said this to reporters on Thursday, Russian news agency TASS reported.

"At present, residents of the occupied territories of Luhansk and Donetsk regions filed over 60,000 applications for obtaining a Russian passport," she said.

According to her, more than 25,000 people have already been granted Russian citizenship.

As Ukrinform reported, on July 17, Russian President Vladimir Putin simplified the process for obtaining Russian citizenship for all Ukrainian citizens residing in the territory of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and not only in the occupied areas of Donbas.

The Presidential Office of Ukraine condemned this step, saying that it created additional obstacles to de-escalation of the conflict and reintegration of Donbas.

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