Russia simplifies citizenship to residents in southern Ukraine

President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree simplifying the process for residents of Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions to acquire Russian citizenship and passports, Al Jazeera reports.

The decree marks a further step towards “Russification” of the two regions, where Moscow’s war in Ukraine has enabled it to establish a continuous land bridge linking Russia to the Crimean Peninsula, which it seized from Ukraine in 2014.

Kyiv said the plan was a violation of international law and accused the Kremlin of “criminal” behaviour.

“The illegal issuing of passports … is a flagrant violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as norms and principles of international humanitarian law,” the Ukrainian foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

Putin’s move extends a scheme available to residents of areas controlled by Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions, where Moscow has issued around 800,000 passports since 2019.

Applicants are not required to have lived in Russia and do not need to provide evidence of sufficient funds or pass a Russian language test.

Ukraine’s foreign ministry said the initiative was further evidence of Moscow’s “criminal” war goals, namely the integration of regions held by Moscow’s army “into Russia’s legal, political and economic field.”