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Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja
The Russian Federation has granted Ukrainians with permanent residence of certain territories within Donetsk and Luhansk regions the right to apply for Russian citizenship.
The Embassy of the Russian Federation in Abuja, disclosed the development in a statement made available to Daily Sun.
The embassy said the application which is through a simplified procedure was in accordance with the recently signed Decree of the President of the Russian Federation. The embassy said the measure to grant Russian citizenship to Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR) was taken due to the humanitarian catastrophe on the Russian border.
“The measure was taken to counter the humanitarian catastrophe on the Russian border. The people are trying to protect themselves and their children from infringement on their identity, way of life and language. “Apart from the linguistic and cultural aspects, the fundamental human rights have been systematically abused such as the right to life, right to a fair trial and prohibition of torture. “These rights are violated by the Kievan authorities when it comes to the regions controlled by DPR and LPR, as well as political dissidents or other people who are persecuted because of their beliefs,” the Embassy said.
It said it should be noted that the residents of the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics have never carried out terrorist attacks, captured hostages, sent death threats to Kiev’s officials, tried to assault or threaten them into taking any political decisions.
“There is not even a slightest hint of the situation changing for the better as the Ukrainian side has virtually ignored the civilized solution framework, ‘the Minsk Agreements.’ Despite the cessation of hostilities agreement, the sides of the conflict have not managed to achieve complete ceasefire. The situation was further aggravated by the Kievan authorities in March 2017, when they tightened and legitimized socio-economic blockade of the Donbass region. By unilaterally cutting all ties with the population of DPR and LPR, official Kiev has turned its resident in de-facto stateless people living on the territory of their homeland.
