MOSCOW (dpa-AFX) – The Russian President Wladimir Putin issued a decree facilitating the naturalization of foreigners who fought in its war of aggression against Ukraine. The prerequisite is that the foreigners have had a contract with the Russian army or other armed organizations for at least one year since February 2022. This affects active soldiers and veterans. The naturalization of your family members will also be simplified. The decree was published by the Kremlin on Thursday.
For the operation against Ukraine, Moscow put many men in the army who were in Russia as guest workers from Central Asia. Putin’s decree solves the problem of possible extradition of war veterans to countries where they are threatened with persecution for mercenary activities, commented MP Alexander Chinshtein. “Russia does not extradite its own citizens,” he said. It was reported from Kyrgyzstan on Thursday that a Kyrgyz citizen had been sentenced to five years in prison for belonging to the Russian private army Wagner./fko/DP/mis