EU won’t recognize passports issued by Putin's regime to Ukrainians – Borrell

"The new Russian legislation now simplifying the procedure for all Ukrainians to obtain Russian citizenship is yet another flagrant violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty, linked to Russia’s illegal war,” the Yevropeyska Pravda online media outlet quotes EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell as saying.

According to him, the European Union will not recognize these passports.

As reported, on July 11, Vladimir Putin signed a decree simplifying the procedure for all residents of Ukraine to acquire Russian citizenship. The decree amends the previous decrees on expedited citizenship procedure for the residents of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions, now extending its effect to the rest of the Ukrainian territory.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine emphasized that such a decision is yet another encroachment on Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, incompatible with the norms and principles of international law, and called on Ukraine's international partners "to react strongly to Putin’s passport fantasies."

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