Vladimir Putin offers citizenship to foreigners who join the Russian army

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a new decree that allows foreigners who fought alongside the Russian army during the Ukraine war to apply for Russian citizenship. The condition is that they should be able to prove that they served for a minimum period of one year.

The decree also permits the spouses, children, and parents of foreign nationals serving in the Russian army to receive expedited citizenship. Russian authorities have one month to consider the soldiers’ and their families’ citizenship applications, the document states.

In September 2022, Putin signed a decree allowing foreigners who had entered into a one-year military contract to obtain citizenship in a simplified manner (without having a residence permit and living in Russia for five years). Previously, they had to serve for a minimum of three years. The 2022 decree did not include wording about the “special military operation” and processing time was set at three months.

This move by Putin could attract more foreigners with military experience to join the Russian army. The decree has already been published on the Russian government’s website.

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