Europe
08:08, 26-Apr-2019
Putin: Nothing wrong with us giving passports to east Ukraine residents
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Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday there was nothing wrong with easing rules for residents of some east Ukrainian regions to receive Russian passports.
Speaking to reporters at the end of a summit with Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) 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."
Men walk past a banner, which reads "We were born in DPR (Donetsk People's Republic)! DPR is five years old", in the street in the city of Donetsk, Ukraine, April 25, 2019. /Reuters Photo
Men walk past a banner, which reads "We were born in DPR (Donetsk People's Republic)! DPR is five years old", in the street in the city of Donetsk, Ukraine, April 25, 2019. /Reuters Photo
Putin signed an order on Wednesday saying that residents of the Donetsk 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 Zelensky, 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.
Putin said on Thursday that Moscow was willing to work with Zelensky if he implemented the full terms of the 2015 truce agreements, brokered in the Belarus capital Minsk. Both sides accuse each other of violating the agreements.
A banner (top), which reads "Our choice is Russia!", is on display in the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk, Ukraine, April 25, 2019. /Reuters Photo
A banner (top), which reads "Our choice is Russia!", is on display in the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk, Ukraine, April 25, 2019. /Reuters Photo
"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.
Source(s): Reuters