KYIV – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has simplified naturalization procedures for foreigners and stateless people who have “defended Ukraine” and for Russians facing “political persecution” at home.
In a decree published on the presidential website on August 13, Mr. Zelenskyy ordered the Cabinet of Ministers to “urgently” develop and draft a law “aimed at simplifying the procedure for acquiring citizenship.”
The decree (No. 594/2019) covers “foreigners and stateless persons who have participated in the implementation of national security and defense measures, and citizens of the Russian Federation who have been persecuted for political reasons.”
The document exempts persons who are citizens of the Russian Federation persecuted because of political convictions in the country of their citizenship and who apply for Ukrainian citizenship from the requirement of submitting an obligation to terminate foreign citizenship.
The same concerns persons serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, having outstanding merits to Ukraine, or whose naturalization is of national interest (who were or are involved in the implementation of national security and defense measures, measures on rebuffing or curbing the armed aggression of the Russian Federation in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions).
According to the decree, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has been charged with submitting a draft law to the Verkhovna Rada aimed at simplifying the procedure for acquiring Ukrainian citizenship by the above mentioned categories of persons, as well as a draft law on the procedure for granting asylum.
In addition, the government is commissioned to check, with the assistance of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the compliance with the requirements of legislation on citizenship affairs by the State Migration Service, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, diplomatic missions and consular offices of Ukraine when deciding on the acquisition of Ukrainian citizenship.
The president’s move comes less than a month after Russia announced a decree to fast-track the granting of citizenship to all residents of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, where Russian-backed militants have been fighting a war against Ukrainian troops.
Ukraine and the West decried the move as an attempt to undermine Ukrainian sovereignty and was seen as an effort to provoke Mr. Zelenskyy and undermine his electoral win in April.
Sources: RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, Presidential Office of Ukraine.