OREANDA-NEWS  More than 500 thousand residents of Donbass have received Russian citizenship under a simplified scheme. This was announced by the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic Igor Kornet. According to him, more than 215 thousand applications for obtaining a Russian passport have been approved in the LPR.

On March 16, the leader of the Donetsk People's Republic, Denis Pushilin, said that at that time more than 224 thousand residents of the self-proclaimed republic had received Russian citizenship.

On February 18, the head of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Rostov Region, Oleg Agarkov, said that 639 thousand residents of the self-proclaimed republics of Donbass received Russian citizenship under a simplified scheme.

In April 2019, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree "On defining, for humanitarian purposes, the category of persons entitled to apply for Russian citizenship in a simplified manner." This category includes residents of certain areas of Donetsk and Lugansk regions. In May, the Ukrainian government issued a decree on the non-recognition of passports issued by a foreign state.