In April, Russian legislators adopted a new law, “Concerning the Simplification of the Process for the Acquisition of Russian Citizenship” drastically simplifies the proces of becoming Russian nationals. Among eliminating other reuirements, it gives citizens of the former Soviet Union who continue to reside in one of the former republics or Soviet-occupied countries to apply for Russian citizenship without having to take up Russian residency.
The revisions to the old citizenship law were only in part motivated by the need to alleviate Russia’s demographic crisis, a drastic decrese in population.The new legislation targets specific groups of foreigners who include ethnic Russians and Russian speakers living in adjacent states to Russia and qualify for a simplified procedure to obtain citizenship. Observers say that the new process will amount to five to ten million new citizens. This change has been seen as a legal pretext for Russia to use military force to “protect Russian citizens resident in neighbouring states”.
Compounding this justification for….
(Read more: Estonian Life No. 29 2020 paber- and PDF/digi)
Laas Leivat, Toronto
