EU calls on OSCE participating States not to recognize Russian passports in Donbas

The EU Delegation said this in a statement at a meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna on Thursday, January 30, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"We reiterate our utmost concern about the Russian presidential decrees and their extensions, enabling the simplified granting of Russian citizenship to Ukrainian citizens, which constitutes yet another attack on the sovereignty of Ukraine and runs counter to the spirit and objectives of the Minsk agreements," the statement says.

The Delegation recalls that the EU does not recognize Russian passports issued to Ukrainian citizens in Donbas, and "calls on other OSCE participating States to do likewise."

As reported, on April 24, 2019, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin signed a decree to provide expedited citizenship for permanent residents of certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine. On May 1, Putin issued another decree simplifying the procedure for obtaining Russian citizenship for Ukrainians who lived in Crimea and Donbas prior to spring 2014.

This step of the Russian leadership was condemned by Ukraine, the EU, the US and other countries.

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