Mooted bill on Russian citizenship for Ukrainians may be drafted in two days

A bill to simplify the procedure of granting Russian citizenship for Ukrainian nationals will be drafted within one or two days if the speaker of the Russian parliament’s lower house issues a relevant order, a senior lawmaker said on Friday.

“Our committee will be able to consolidate positions of all political factions (on this issue) within one or two days, if the speaker of the State Duma issues a relevant order,” Leonid Slutsky, the chairman of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots, said.
Slutsky said the possible draft law will be in the form of amendments to the Russian Federal Law on Citizenship, but “the bill is very important and sensitive both for us [Russians] and Ukrainians.”

However, Valentina Matviyenko, Speaker of Russian parliament’s upper house, said earlier in the week that the mooted legislature of granting the Russian citizenship for Ukrainians was untimely and must be thoroughly considered before going up for parliamentary debates.