The bill “On Citizenship of the Russian Federation” introduced by Russian President Vladimir Putin simplifies the procedure and shortens the time frame for accepting Russian citizenship for those who meet the criteria. Migration lawyer Kaprel Babasinyan expressed this opinion on Wednesday, December 29, in an interview with Izvestia.
“Innovations will definitely be in demand. They greatly simplify the procedure and shorten the time frame for the adoption of Russian citizenship by those who want and meet the criteria. Now it takes years to obtain citizenship, even if a person has all the legal grounds, ”he stressed.
The expert recalled that in the summer, Russia took steps to simplify obtaining a Russian passport for citizens of Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Moldova. Now, according to the bill, a wider range of people will be able to obtain citizenship under a simplified procedure. In addition, those who did not previously have the right to acquire Russian citizenship will be granted.
“It is important to cancel that this does not mean that citizenship will be distributed left and right. It is about giving people who speak Russian, who know the history and legislation of Russia, that is, those who easily integrate into the Russian Federation, to obtain Russian citizenship. In addition, the bill includes the grounds on which you can lose this citizenship. For example, now you can lose your citizenship for terrorist crimes, and now this list will be supplemented, ”the lawyer concluded.
The head of the Center for Analytical and Practical Research of Migration Processes Vyacheslav Postavnin, in turn, noted that the bill regulates the issue of obtaining citizenship by children – when one parent is a Russian and the other is a foreigner; as well as the norm on foreign students with excellent marks who graduated with honors from Russian universities or graduate school, residency and worked for a year in the Russian Federation.
The expert also drew attention to the possibility of simplified obtaining citizenship for the descendants of people who lived on the territory of the Russian Empire within the modern border of the Russian Federation.
At the same time, he expressed the opinion that the bill has a drawback – a chapter on deprivation of citizenship.
“In 2007, there were checks among citizens who received Russian passports in a simplified manner, identifying people who did not indicate something, who did not have enough certificates <...> It was a mistake. Now a whole article is devoted to this order. It is indicated that citizenship can be deprived for providing deliberately false information. Did you forget to indicate a relative – will this be considered deliberately false information? There remains a loophole to deprive a person of citizenship, this key value, without good reason. It is necessary to clearly state what information we are talking about. It is one thing you hid a criminal record, another thing – out of forgetfulness, you incorrectly indicated your mother’s maiden name, ”explained Postavnin.
Putin introduced the draft law “On Citizenship of the Russian Federation” to the State Duma earlier that day. The document expands the powers of the head of state in the field of determining the categories of persons entitled to a simplified acquisition of Russian citizenship.
According to the head of the committee of the lower house of parliament on CIS affairs, Eurasian integration and relations with compatriots, Communist Party deputy Leonid Kalashnikov, the bill will be adopted by the State Duma in early 2022.
