In case of obtaining Russian passports, residents of the unrecognized "L/DNR" will automatically lose Ukrainian citizenship. This was stated by Deputy Minister for Temporarily Occupied Territories Yuriy Hrymchak, - Obozrevatel reports.
He noted that the lists of these people will be published by the official departments of the Russian Federation.
"We can test, or we can officially state that, according to our legislation, a second citizenship leads to the fact that a person can lose Ukrainian citizenship. Lists of those who have received Russian citizenship will still be known, because they must be published. Therefore, any citizen of Ukraine who will take the citizenship of the Russian Federation will almost automatically lose the Ukrainian one", – the official said.
According to the deputy minister, Russia can really go to such a step, because the residents of the unrecognized Transnistria, Abkhazia and South Ossetia also have Russian passports. In case of the "L/DNR" everything goes to the same scenario.
"I think that this step can be made in order to say that our citizens are there, and we will protect them. Perhaps, this is an option to evacuate "their" people, because if peacekeepers come in tomorrow, we must understand that a significant number of the population who live there will go to Russia, fearing prosecution for the crimes that have been committed. And so that they have at least some official status, they will be given these passports", – he says.
Hrymchak does not exclude the option that the issuance of Russian passports could be the basis for the introduction of Russian troops into the occupied territory.
"It is not excluded that they will say that their citizens live there, they will defend them and lead their troops there openly. This option is also possible. The Russian army is still in Transnistria, Abkhazia and South Ossetia", – the official stated, having added that in this way, the Russian Federation would try to "repeat the situation that has already been repeatedly worked out by the Russian authorities".
As previously reported, the State Duma adopted a draft law on the simplified granting of Russian citizenship in December 2018. It does not hide that first of all, the bill is aimed at the citizens of Ukraine. The law came into force at the end of March 2019.
Earlier, Russian media reported that the conditions for obtaining Russian passport by residents of the occupied Donbass are availability of a document of the separatist "republics" and refusal of Ukrainian passports. Russian passports will be issued to security officers in the occupied territories, civilians will have to go to the Rostov oblast, to Matveyev Kurgan. Information about who has the "DNR" passport and who has not is being collected in the budgetary institutions of the "republics".
Moscow did not comment on information about the intention of simplified issuance of Russian passports to residents of the occupied part of Donbass.