Olena Barsukova
30 May 2022
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree simplifying the procedure for obtaining Russian citizenship for Ukrainian orphans or children left without parental care, particularly in the temporarily occupied territories.
The document has been published by the Kremlin-aligned news agency RIA-Novosti.
The decree states that orphans and children who have been left without parental care, as well as people without legal capacity, who are Ukrainian citizens, can acquire Russian citizenship through a simplified procedure.
Guardians or organisations will be able to request Russian citizenship for children who are in the temporarily occupied Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson Oblasts.
Putin’s decree also determines who can apply.
Read also: Russia says that the occupiers have deported nearly 200,000 children from Ukraine
The following persons may apply for Russian citizenship for Ukrainian children:
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The guardian or custodian of the child, if they are citizens of the Russian Federation, Ukraine or residents of the occupied areas of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts.
Except in cases where the child’s guardian has been appointed temporarily at the joint request of the parents because they are unable to perform their parental duties for a certain period of time.
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The head of the organisation for orphans and children left without parental care located in the territory of CADLR [temporarily occupied areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions] or Zaporizhzhia or Kherson Oblasts, if the child has been placed in the care of such organisation.
The exception is when the child has been placed in the organisation temporarily while his or her parents, adoptive parents, guardian or custodian are unable to perform their duties for some reason.
Reminder: The Russian president previously signed a decree simplifying the procedure for obtaining Russian citizenship for inhabitants of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine’s Kherson and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts.
The Russian Defence Ministry has also stated that the occupiers have stolen almost 200,000 children from Ukraine and taken them to Russia.
Read also: Wounded by the occupiers and deported to Belarus: how a 14-year-old boy from Yagidne returned home
