After a month after Russia began offering passports to citizens of the republics in the Donbas region, Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree ordering that “all citizens of Ukraine” be given “the right to apply for admission to the citizenship of the Russian Federation in a simplified manner.”
The new citizenship for Ukrainians scheme already appears in full swing, as “Nearly 40% of the 137,700 citizens of former Soviet countries who obtained Russian citizenship in January-April 2022 were from Ukraine, according to Interior Ministry data,” The Moscow Times writes.
Among the newly liberated regions with massive uptake of Russian citizenship TASS reports that in Kherson alone over 10,000 residents of the Kherson region have already received Russian passports, as Deputy Head of the local military-civil administration Ekaterina Gubareva wrote on her Telegram channel on Monday.
“More than 10,000 residents of the Kherson region have already received passports,” she wrote. The first Russian passports were issued in the Kherson region a month ago – on June 11.
On February 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the recognition of the sovereignty of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics. On February 24, Putin announced the start of a special military operation in Ukraine in response to an appeal from the leaders of the Donbass republics for help. Currently, the territory of the Kherson region is completely out of control of Kiev, and peaceful life is gradually being restored there.
Other newly liberated territories outside Donbass such as Zaporozhye have started registering people wishing to obtain a Russian passport, TASS reports. Residents of the Zaporozhye Region of Ukraine will start to receive Russian passports iand the first questionnaires have already been sent to Russia,
“The first questionnaires, the first packages of documents have already been sent to the Russian Federation,” Alexey Selivanov, deputy head of the Interior Ministry’s regional branch, said in an interview with TASS. “In Russia, the granting of citizenship and obtaining a passport takes from one to three months. That means passports will start to be issued within a month or a month and a half, and we will hand them out here at the passport center.”
Selivanov said, “already now more than 3,000 people wishing to obtain a Russian passport have been registered at one center.” According to the official, people are lining up at the center for receiving documents, and up to 300 people are in the queue at a time.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree establishing a simplified procedure for applying for Russian citizenship for residents of the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions of Ukraine that tend to support integration with Russia. On May 25, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree relaxing rules for granting Russian citizenship to residents of Ukraine’s Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. On June 11, the first passports were presented to the Kherson region’s residents at a ceremony dedicated to Russia Day marked on June 12.
“As for legal processes, the regions need to define their own path. It is clear that the process of integration with the Russian Crimea – with Russia – will continue,” he pointed out.
This is driving speculation that Putin’s war aims include annexation of territory taken by Russian forces, especially liberated regions in the east and south. Some Western analysts like John Mearsheimer have speculated that Putin’s initial more limited war aims may have changed and broadened in scope since the invasion began, perhaps largely in response to the US and NATO ramping up their involvement in the conflict.