VLADIVOSTOK, Russia (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday there was nothing wrong with easing rules for residents of Ukrainian rebel regions to receive Russian passports, a decision that prompted condemnation and calls for more sanctions against Moscow.

Men walk past a banner, which reads "We were born in DPR (Donetsk People's Republic)! DPR is five years old", in a street in the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk, Ukraine April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko

Speaking to reporters at the end of a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Putin said Poland, Romania and Hungary grant citizenship to their ethnic kin outside their borders and he saw no reason why Russia could not do the same.

“It caused a negative reaction. That’s strange,” Putin said.

“How are Russians in Ukraine worse than Romanians, Poles or Hungarians? I don’t see anything unusual here.”

Putin signed an order on Wednesday saying that residents of the Donestk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine were entitled to apply for Russian citizenship under an expedited procedure to be processed within three months.

The European Union condemned Russia’s move on Thursday, calling it another attack by Moscow on Ukraine’s sovereignty.

“The timing ... shows Russia’s intention to further destabilize Ukraine and to exacerbate the conflict,” the spokesperson for the EU’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said in a statement.

Ukrainian President-elect Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who won a presidential election in a landslide on Sunday, said the Russian move showed Moscow was waging war in Ukraine and called for additional sanctions against Russia.

Rebellions broke out against Ukrainian government rule in east Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions in 2014 shortly after a pro-Russian president was toppled in Kiev in a popular revolt.

Moscow, which also annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region that year, provided military help for the separatists in the east, according to evidence gathered by Reuters, although Russian officials have denied providing material support.

Five years of war have killed 13,000 people. A ceasefire signed in 2015 ended major combat but deadly clashes still occur regularly. The United States and EU have maintained financial sanctions against Russia since 2014 over its Ukraine policies.

Putin said on Thursday that Moscow was willing to work with Zelenskiy if he implemented the full terms of the 2015 truce agreements, brokered in the Belarus capital Minsk with international support. Both sides accuse each other of violating the agreements.

“If those coming to power in Kiev find the strength to implement the Minsk agreements, we will do all we can to cooperate and we will do everything to normalize the situation in south-eastern Ukraine,” Putin said.</s>BRUSSELS (AP) - The European Union has criticized Russia's move to fast-track citizenship applications from people living in conflict areas in eastern Ukraine, calling it "another attack on Ukraine's sovereignty by Russia."

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree Wednesday to expedite the applications from some Ukrainians living in areas held by Russia-backed separatists. Those granted Russian citizenship would have to swear allegiance to Russia.

European Commission spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic said Thursday the fact that Putin's move came just days after presidential elections in Ukraine "shows Russia's intention to further destabilize Ukraine and to exacerbate the conflict."

Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who won a landslide victory in Ukrainian presidential elections Sunday, said Russia's move confirms its role as an "aggressor state" in the conflict in the east.

Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures while speaking to the media after his talks with North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un talk in Vladivostok, Russia, Thursday, April 25, 2019. President Vladimir Putin says after talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that Pyongyang is ready to proceed toward denuclearization, but that it needs serious security guarantees to do so. (Sergei Ilnitsky/Pool Photo via AP)</s>Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday a decision to give residents of Ukrainian rebel regions fast-track access to Russian passports was no different from what some European Union states were already doing.

Speaking to reporters at the end of a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Putin said that Poland, Romania and Hungary grant citizenship to their own ethnic kin living outside their borders.

"It caused a negative reaction. That's strange," Putin said.

"How are Russians in Ukraine worse than Romanians, Poles or Hungarians? I don't see anything unusual here."

The Russian decision, announced on Wednesday, prompted Kiev to call for more Western sanctions against Moscow.</s>Russian President Vladimir Putin has rejected international criticism about his decision to ease the process of granting Russian citizenship to Ukrainians in territory of eastern Ukraine that is held by Russia-backed separatists.

 

 Putin told journalists in Vladivostok on April 25 that Kyiv's objections to his decree were "strange."

 

 He defended the move, announced on April 24, by claiming that his decree was similar to policies in European Union member states like Romania and Hungary that grant citizenship to "their own ethnic kin living outside their borders."

 

 Putin's decree drew a swift and angry response from Kyiv, the United States, Britain, and the European Union.

Ukraine's foreign minister called it "aggression and interference" in Kyiv's affairs and a Western diplomat told RFE/RL that it was a "highly provocative step" which would undermine the situation in the war-ravaged region known as the Donbas.

 

 President Petro Poroshenko said that with this decree "Russia is torpedoing the peace process in the Donbas."

 

 Ukraine's mission to the United Nations posted on Facebook that Kyiv had "asked that the UN Security Council call a session to discuss Russia's brazen decision to issue Russian passports in the temporarily occupied Ukrainian territory."

 

 The U.S. State Department also criticized Russia's move, saying Moscow "through this highly provocative action, is intensifying its assault on Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity."



 

 Critics point to other frozen conflicts in former Soviet republics where Russia has granted citizenship to residents of separatist-held territory in order to choreograph demographic changes over time and justify future military operations.

 

 In 2002, the Kremlin began granting Russian citizenship to residents of Georgia’s breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia -- a policy that helped raise the number of Russian passport holders there from about 20 percent to more than 85 percent of the population.

 

 Then, when Russia went to war against Georgia in August 2008, the Kremlin justified its deployment of Russian military forces in Abkhazia and South Ossetia by saying those forces were needed to protect Russia citizens in the separatist regions.

 

 Russian media reports say Russia has also issued its passports to nearly half of the residents of Moldova’s Moscow-backed breakaway region of Transdniester.

 

 That policy has raised concerns in Chisinau that the Kremlin may use a similar argument of defending its citizens in order to justify future Russian military operations in Transdniester.

 

 Russia has maintained a "peacekeeping" force of 1,200 troops in the Transdniester region along the border with southeastern Ukraine since they were deployed there in 1992 in support of Transdniester separatists who were fighting against Moldovan government forces.

 

 NATO describes Russia's protracted military presence in Moldova's frozen conflict as illegal.

 

 NATO and the United Nations General Assembly have both urged Russia to withdraw its military forces from the breakaway Moldovan territory.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Ukrainian, Georgian, and Moldovan services, Reuters, and AP</s>BRUSSELS - The European Union has criticized Russia’s move to fast-track citizenship applications from people living in conflict areas in eastern Ukraine, calling it “another attack on Ukraine’s sovereignty by Russia.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree Wednesday to expedite the applications from some Ukrainians living in areas held by Russia-backed separatists. Those granted Russian citizenship would have to swear allegiance to Russia.</s>EU slams Russia citizenship move as new attack on Ukraine

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union has criticized Russia's move to fast-track citizenship applications from people living in conflict areas in eastern Ukraine, calling it "another attack on Ukraine's sovereignty by Russia."

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree Wednesday to expedite the applications from some Ukrainians living in areas held by Russia-backed separatists. Those granted Russian citizenship would have to swear allegiance to Russia.

European Commission spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic said Thursday the fact that Putin's move came just days after presidential elections in Ukraine "shows Russia's intention to further destabilize Ukraine and to exacerbate the conflict."

Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who won a landslide victory in Ukrainian presidential elections Sunday, said Russia's move confirms its role as an "aggressor state" in the conflict in the east.</s>The European Union condemned Vladimir Putin's decision to fast-track Russian citizenship for people living in parts of eastern Ukraine.

"The signature by President Putin of a decree entitling, inter alia, people who permanently reside in certain areas of Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions to apply for Russian citizenship in a simplified manner, is another attack on Ukraine's sovereignty by Russia," a spokesperson for the EU's External Action Service said in a statement Thursday.

"The timing of such a decision immediately after Ukraine’s Presidential election, which demonstrated Ukraine's strong attachment to democracy and the rule of law, shows Russia’s intention to further destabilise Ukraine and to exacerbate the conflict," the spokesperson said, adding that "we expect Russia to refrain from actions that are against the Minsk agreements [an international agreement setting up a process for halting the war in eastern Ukraine] and impede the full reintegration of the non-Government controlled areas into Ukraine."

The EU's public condemnation comes a day after Washington also raised concerns about the decree.

"Russia, through this highly provocative action, is intensifying its assault on Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity," a State Department spokesperson said.

The Russian government maintains that the new decree is designed to help people on humanitarian grounds.

"With a view to protecting human and citizens’ rights and freedoms, and guided by the universally recognised principles and norms of international law ... the President ordered that permanent residents from certain districts of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Lugansk regions be entitled to a fast-track procedure when applying for the Russian Federation citizenship," the Kremlin wrote in a statement.</s>BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Russia’s decision to ease the granting of Russian citizenship to people living in separatist regions of Ukraine is another attack by Moscow on Ukrainian sovereignty, the European Union said on Thursday, calling on Russian to stop such actions.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an order on Wednesday simplifying the procedure for obtaining a Russian passport for residents of separatist-controlled eastern Ukraine, prompting calls from Kiev for more international sanctions.

“The signature by President Putin ... is another attack on Ukraine’s sovereignty by Russia,” the spokesperson for the EU’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said in a statement.

“The timing ... shows Russia’s intention to further destabilize Ukraine and to exacerbate the conflict. We expect Russia to refrain from actions that are against the Minsk agreements and impede the full reintegration of the non-Government controlled areas into Ukraine,” it said.</s>As the conflict in eastern Ukraine entered its sixth year, the ongoing crisis continues to be a major sticking point between Russia and the Western world. The tension lately escalated after Russia decided to give residents of Ukraine's rebel-held regions fast-track access to Russian passports.

Three days after Ukraine elected a new president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree Wednesday aimed at residents of eastern Donetsk and Luhansk that broke away from Kiev in 2014 and are governed by Moscow-backed rebels.

People living in the separatist regions will now be entitled to receive a Russian passport within three months of applying for one. Zelinsky's victory has raised questions over the possible rapprochement with Russia. Putin said Moscow was willing to work with the Ukrainian president-elect if he implemented an international peace accord on east Ukraine. Zelenskiy, in response to the move, called for more international sanctions against Russia.

Speaking to reporters at the end of a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Putin said that Poland, Romania and Hungary grant citizenship to their own ethnic kin living outside their borders. "It caused a negative reaction. That's strange," Putin said. "How are Russians in Ukraine worse than Romanians, Poles or Hungarians? I don't see anything unusual here."

The latest Russian move drew swift condemnation from the U.S., Germany, France and the EU. The controversial decree signed by President Vladimir Putin "is another attack on Ukraine's sovereignty by Russia," a spokeswoman for EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini said in a statement. "The timing of such a decision immediately after Ukraine's presidential election... shows Russia's intention to further destabilize Ukraine and to exacerbate the conflict," the spokeswoman added.

Germany and France also condemned Moscow, saying the move undermined the Minsk peace agreements. "Russia's announcement contradicts the spirit and goals of the Minsk agreements. That is the opposite of the now urgently needed contribution to de-escalation," the German Foreign Ministry said on Twitter.

Ties between Ukraine and Russia deteriorated after Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and backed separatist fighters in eastern Ukraine. The February 2015 Minsk Agreements, agreed by the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany, set out the necessary steps to stop violence against civilians in eastern Ukraine; however, the U.N. has warned that the agreements have remained "largely unimplemented."

The mediating efforts between European countries, Ukraine and Russia have led to no significant improvement in ending the years-long pro-Russian separatist rebellion in eastern Ukraine. The peace talks could not produce a breakthrough over issues relating to the settlement of the Ukraine crisis. The gap between the parties is still too wide to reconcile, therefore the conflict of interests at the heart of the Ukrainian crisis are preventing a sustainable settlement between Kiev and the eastern Ukrainian separatists.</s>Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree simplifying the procedure for people living in parts of eastern Ukraine held by Russia-backed separatists to obtain Russian citizenship, drawing a swift and angry response from Kyiv and criticism from the West.​

Shortly after Putin's decree was published on the Kremlin website on April 24, Ukraine's foreign minister called it "aggression and interference" in Kyiv's affairs and a Western diplomat told RFE/RL it was a "highly provocative step" that would undermine the situation in the war-ravaged region known as the Donbas.

The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv said on Twitter that Russia's decree is "absurd and destabilizing" and reaffirmed U.S. support for Ukraine's territorial integrity.

The order and its timing seemed designed to put pressure on Kyiv just three days after Ukraine elected a new president, opening the door to potential changes in a relationship severely damaged for the past five years by Russia's seizure of Crimea and support for the forces who hold parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces in eastern Ukraine.

 

 The decree says its goal is "to protect human and civil rights" and that the move was "based on universal principles and norms of the international law."

Putin aide Vladislav Surkov called it "extremely important" and said that Russia was carrying out its "duty to Russian-speaking and Russian-thinking people who have found themselves in a very grave situation" due to what he called "the repressive actions of the Kyiv regime."

Speaking hours after the decree was published, Putin said that Moscow has "no desire to create problems for the new Ukrainian authorities" and called it "a purely humanitarian matter," contending that people in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions "are deprived of all possible civil rights."

But Kyiv rejects such claims, blaming Russia for the problems faced by residents of the war-ravaged regions. The move is likely to spark concerns that Moscow might hand passports to large numbers of people and then use their status as justification for military action or other steps if Putin and his government want to raise the stakes in their standoff with Kyiv and the West in the future.

Shortly after the decree was published, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin tweeted that "Russia's decision to issue passports in the occupied Ukrainian territories is the continuation of aggression and interference in our internal affairs," adding: "This is a new 'passport' stage of the occupation of the Donbas."

 

 Speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, a Western diplomat involved in negotiations related to the conflict in eastern Ukraine told RFE/RL that Putin's decree is "a highly provocative step that undermines efforts to deescalate the situation" in the Donbas.

According to the decree, permanent residents of "certain districts of Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions" — wording apparently referring to territory held by the Russia-backed separatists, which includes the two provincial capitals — "have the right to apply for citizenship of the Russian Federation [and obtain it] in a simplified way."

 

 The decree states that decisions on citizenship for people from the areas in question must be made by Russian authorities within three months after their applications are filed and all necessary documents are collected, and that citizenship must be granted immediately after the decision to do so is made.

 

 Putin's order came after amendments to the Russian law on citizenship allowing a president to grant citizenship to foreigners "in a simplified way" were approved by lawmakers in both houses of the Russian parliament in December and came into force on March 29.

 

 Russia's moves to grant citizenship to residents of other former Soviet republics, and especially breakaway regions that are supported by Moscow, have often been described by critics as a way to increase the size of Moscow's footprint and gain additional levers of influence in those countries.

 

 In 2002, during Putin's first term, Moscow began issuing Russian passports to residents of Georgia’s breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia — first laying groundwork for the move by adopting a law allowing Russian citizenship to be granted to people who did not receive citizenship of any country after the 1991 Soviet collapse.

 

 When Russian troops rolled into Georgia in August 2008, at the start of a five-day war that strengthened Moscow's grip over South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the number of Russian passport holders in the two separatist regions was 85 and 90 percent, respectively.

 

 Russia recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent countries after the war, leaving large numbers of troops in both regions. Pro-Kremlin analysts and other defenders of Moscow's actions say that Russia was protecting its citizens when it launched the military operation. Meanwhile, Russian media reports have said that almost half the residents of Moldova's Moscow-backed breakaway region of Transdniester are Russian passport holders.

 

 Putin's decree came three days after Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a comedian and political novice who critics doubt will be able to stand up to Putin, defeated incumbent President Petro Poroshenko by a massive margin in a presidential runoff. He is to be inaugurated in early June.

 

 Putin and other Russian officials had repeatedly denounced Poroshenko, who made a stronger army and resistance against Russian interference major parts of his policy and his reelection campaign.

Poroshenko was elected in May 2014, after Moscow-friendly President Viktor Yanukovych was pushed from power that February by a protest movement known as the Maidan after he scrapped plans for closer ties with the European Union and vowed to boost trade with Russia.

 

 Shortly after Yanukovych stepped down and fled to Russia, Moscow seized control of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and fomented unrest in the Donbas, where it has backed separatist forces in a war that has killed some 13,000 people and continues despite a cease-fire and peace deal known as the Minsk Accords.

Russia denies involvement in the conflict despite evidence Kyiv and Western governments say is incontrovertible that it has provided weapons, troops, and other support.

With reporting by RFE/RL Correspondent Christopher Miller in Kyiv, Reuters, TASS, and RBK.
Russia announces it will fast-track citizenship applications from people living in conflict areas in eastern Ukraine. The European Union calls the move an attack on Ukraine's sovereignty that would undermine any peace agreement.