{"id":6346,"date":"2025-05-17T12:06:32","date_gmt":"2025-05-17T12:06:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/putin-signs-decree-easing-russian-citizenship-process-for-residents-of-occupied-abkhazia-south-ossetia\/"},"modified":"2025-05-17T12:06:32","modified_gmt":"2025-05-17T12:06:32","slug":"putin-signs-decree-easing-russian-citizenship-process-for-residents-of-occupied-abkhazia-south-ossetia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/putin-signs-decree-easing-russian-citizenship-process-for-residents-of-occupied-abkhazia-south-ossetia\/","title":{"rendered":"Putin signs decree easing Russian citizenship process for residents of occupied Abkhazia, South Ossetia"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-1371843319.jpg\" alt=\"Putin signs decree easing Russian citizenship process for residents of occupied Abkhazia, South Ossetia\"><\/p>\n<p>Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree simplifying the process for residents of Georgia\u2019s Russian-occupied territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia to obtain Russian citizenship, Russian state-controlled media reported on May 17.<\/p>\n<p>According to the decree, all adult &#8220;citizens&#8221; of Abkhazia and South Ossetia who held that status as of Aug. 26, 2008, the day Russia recognized the territories as &#8220;independent,&#8221; are now eligible to apply for Russian citizenship through an expedited process. Applicants are required only to submit a formal request for citizenship.<\/p>\n<p>Moscow gained full control over <a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/tag\/abkhazia\/\">Abkhazia<\/a> and South Ossetia following its 2008 invasion of <a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/tag\/georgia\/\">Georgia<\/a> and has since maintained a military presence in both regions. <\/p>\n<p>Russia has employed similar tactics in Ukraine. <\/p>\n<p>In August 2024, <a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/tag\/russia\/\">Russia<\/a>\u2019s Interior Ministry claimed it <a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/russia-claims-it-issued-2-million-passports-in-occupied-ukrainian-territories\/\">had issued<\/a> 2.2 million Russian passports to residents of the <a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/tag\/occupied-ukrainian-territories\/\">occupied Ukrainian territories<\/a> \u2014 Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Donetsk, and Luhansk \u2014 since October 2022. The figure was published by ministry official Irina Volk on her Telegram channel. The claim could not be independently verified.<\/p>\n<p>The U.S.-based Ukraine Conflict Observatory reported in 2023 that Russia systematically <a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/report-2\/\">coerces<\/a> residents of occupied Ukrainian regions into accepting <a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/tag\/russian-citizenship\/\">Russian citizenship<\/a>, often under threat of detention, deportation, or the loss of access to basic services. <\/p>\n<p>Refusal to accept Russian documentation has reportedly resulted in the denial of medical care, employment, humanitarian aid, and other critical support.<\/p>\n<p>During the massive <a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/general-staff-russia-only-evacuating-russian-passport-holders-from-flooded-settlements-in-occupied-kherson-oblast\/\">flooding<\/a> of the Kherson Oblast following the breach of the Kakhovka Dam, Russia allowed evacuations only to Russian passport holders, the General Staff of <a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/tag\/ukrainian-armed-forces\/\">Ukraine&#8217;s Armed Forces<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n<p>Putin first introduced a simplified citizenship process for Ukrainians in occupied territories in July 2022. In April 2023, he <a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/ukrainians-under-occupation-face-deportation-loss-of-property-after-putins-new-order\/\">signed<\/a> another decree setting a deadline in the summer of 2024 for residents in those areas to obtain Russian passports or face legal and civil consequences.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"kg-card kg-bookmark-card\"><a class=\"kg-bookmark-container\" href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/russia-reportedly-grants-citizenship-to-over-3-300-foreign-mercenaries-under-putins-decree\/\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"kg-bookmark-content\">\n<div class=\"kg-bookmark-title\">Russia grants citizenship to over 3,300 foreigners under Putin\u2019s military decree<\/div>\n<div class=\"kg-bookmark-description\">Russian President Vladimir Putin signed in January a decree allowing foreigners who have served a year under contract in the Russian army, as well as their close relatives, to obtain Russian citizenship under a simplified procedure.<\/div>\n<div class=\"kg-bookmark-metadata\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"kg-bookmark-icon\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.kyivindependent.com\/content\/images\/size\/w256h256\/format\/png\/2023\/03\/K-new.svg\" alt=\"Putin signs decree easing Russian citizenship process for residents of occupied Abkhazia, South Ossetia\"><span class=\"kg-bookmark-author\">The Kyiv Independent<\/span><span class=\"kg-bookmark-publisher\">Kateryna Denisova<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"kg-bookmark-thumbnail\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-2061699637.jpg\" alt=\"Putin signs decree easing Russian citizenship process for residents of occupied Abkhazia, South Ossetia\"><\/div>\n<p><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p> &#8211; https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/tag\/ukraine\/rss\/<\/p>\n<p>This article appeared on the websitekyivindependent.com<br \/>\nThis article is taken based on Law no. 8\/1996 of Romania. News does not enjoy copyright, so they can be taken, this is our right to take news and information in its entirety and distribute them further. The content was made available to us through the rss mechanism<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/putin-signs-decree-easing-russian-citizenship-process-for-residents-of-abkhazia-south-ossetia\/\">Original Content<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree simplifying the process for residents of Georgia\u2019s Russian-occupied territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia to obtain Russian citizenship, Russian state-controlled media reported on May 17. According to the decree, all adult &#8220;citizens&#8221; of Abkhazia and South Ossetia who held that status as of Aug. 26, 2008, the day<a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/putin-signs-decree-easing-russian-citizenship-process-for-residents-of-occupied-abkhazia-south-ossetia\/\"> [&hellip;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":6347,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1152,1],"tags":[6395,5179,4871,5671,64,3873,43,6396,1335,1181,2198,587,1333,508],"class_list":["post-6346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kyivindependent","category-news","tag-abkhazia","tag-citizenship","tag-decree","tag-easing","tag-for","tag-occupied","tag-of","tag-ossetia","tag-process","tag-putin","tag-residents","tag-russian","tag-signs","tag-south"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Putin signs decree easing Russian citizenship process for residents of occupied Abkhazia, South Ossetia - News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/putin-signs-decree-easing-russian-citizenship-process-for-residents-of-occupied-abkhazia-south-ossetia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Putin signs decree easing Russian citizenship process for residents of occupied Abkhazia, South Ossetia - News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree simplifying the process for residents of Georgia\u2019s Russian-occupied territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia to obtain Russian citizenship, Russian state-controlled media reported on May 17. According to the decree, all adult &#8220;citizens&#8221; of Abkhazia and South Ossetia who held that status as of Aug. 26, 2008, the day [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/putin-signs-decree-easing-russian-citizenship-process-for-residents-of-occupied-abkhazia-south-ossetia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-17T12:06:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-1371843319.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Misu Videan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Misu Videan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/putin-signs-decree-easing-russian-citizenship-process-for-residents-of-occupied-abkhazia-south-ossetia\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/putin-signs-decree-easing-russian-citizenship-process-for-residents-of-occupied-abkhazia-south-ossetia\/\",\"name\":\"Putin signs decree easing Russian citizenship process for residents of occupied Abkhazia, South Ossetia - 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