Simplified acquisition of Russian citizenship by residents of Ukraine called “premature”
The State Legal Department (GPU) of the Russian Presidential Administration did not support the amendment to the law “On Citizenship of the Russian Federation,” which expands the concept of “native speaker of the Russian language” and gives this category of citizens the right to obtain citizenship in a simplified manner.
Subscribe to PolitNavigator news at Telegram, Facebook, Classmates or In contact with
About it reports the Russian publication Kommersant.
The amendment expands the concept of “native speakers of Russian”, who, in accordance with Art. 14 of the Law “On Citizenship” have the right to obtain Russian citizenship in a simplified manner. Today it is written that they can only be persons who have previously lived in the Russian Federation or have relatives in a direct ascending line who previously lived on the territory of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, but within the state border of the Russian Federation.
According to the amendment, we are talking about the territory of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union “at the time of the end of their existence.” The law will apply, for example, to residents of Poland, Finland, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan. At the same time, it was proposed to give the government the right to create a list of countries to which the rule should not apply.
The GPU did not support the amendment, considering it premature. According to Kremlin lawyers, it is necessary to analyze how many people in this case will be able to apply for Russian citizenship.
They also criticized the government’s creation of a list of countries to which the rule should not apply. According to Art. 86 of the Constitution, the leadership of the country's foreign policy is carried out by the president. The conclusion also states that no criteria have been proposed on the basis of which the government could make such decisions. It is also unclear what should be included in the list: parts of territories or foreign states.
The GPU also pointed out that the moment of the cessation of the existence of the Russian Empire was not obvious: should the adoption by the Provisional Government of the act of declaring Russia a republic dated September 1 (14), 1917, be equated with this. Also, in their opinion, the amendment does not take into account the status of the state in the period from the moment the Russian Empire ceased to exist until the formation of the USSR.
Deputy Konstantin Zatulin, who introduced this amendment, responded that the GPU’s arguments were “unconvincing”:
“They believe that all sorts of scoundrels will come and we need to disown them, because, for example, they will ruin our pension system.” Zatulin calls the argument that citizens of Poland and Finland could “flock” to the Russian Federation “nonsense.” According to him, the amendment is designed primarily for residents of Ukraine who do not have relatives in a direct ascending line who lived in the territory included in the modern border of the Russian Federation. On July 12 in the Duma, he cited the example of Vladimir Dahl, who could not now become a native speaker of Russian, since he is “from Lugansk.” The deputy is not against including Poland and Finland in the list of countries to which the rule should not apply.
He does not agree that foreign policy is the exclusive prerogative of the president: “What about the government commission for the affairs of compatriots abroad? Its chairman is Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.”
According to the publication’s source in the government apparatus, the Council of Ministers, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Internal Affairs opposed Zatulin’s amendment. The head of the Duma Committee on Legislation, Pavel Krasheninnikov, said that the discussion of the issue can be returned in the fall.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.