Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Monday expanding a fast-track to Russian citizenship to all Ukrainians.
Until recently, only residents of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as well as residents of the southern Zaporizhzhia and the Kherson regions, large parts of which are under Russian control, were eligible for the simplified procedure.
Between 2019, when the procedure was first introduced for the residents of Donetsk and Luhansk, and this year more than 720 000 residents of the rebel-held areas in the two regions – about 18% of the population – have received Russian passports.
In late May this year, three months after Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February, the fast-track procedure was also offered to residents of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.
According to The Times of India, the first Russian passports were reportedly handed out there a month ago.
A document published on the government’s website showed that applicants are not required to have lived in Russia or pass a Russian language test.
Al Jazeera reports that the decree marks a further step towards “Russification” of the two regions, where Moscow’s war in Ukraine has enabled it to establish a continuous land bridge linking Russia to the Crimean Peninsula, which it seized from Ukraine in 2014.