New stage in the annexation of Ukrainian territories to Russia. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced Monday before the Duma that the inhabitants of the four regions in question, Lugansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia and Kherson, will benefit from an “automatic right to Russian citizenship.”
“People living in these territories have an automatic right to obtain Russian citizenship with all the rights that go with it,” he said.
“The inhabitants of the Lugansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions will now be part of our ordinary people,” he said.
The exact border of these territories still remains uncertain, while the Kremlin spokesman assured that a consultation with the inhabitants of these regions on this issue is planned.
Questioned annexation referendums
Russian deputies ratified the law on the annexation of the affected regions on Monday, after Vladimir Putin approved the decision last Friday in a ceremony. The union of these regions had been the subject of referendums whose reliability was questioned by many specialists and considered as a foregone conclusion.
The EU, the United States and other countries such as Turkey have also rejected the annexation of these new territories and Kyiv has announced that it will take over the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Russia announced at the end of September the facilitation of access to its citizenship for foreigners who enlist in its army, in the midst of a period of partial mobilization.
Source: BFM TV
