State Duma lawmakers from the ruling United Russia party plan to submit amendments that would allow foreigners convicted of supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine to obtain Russian residence permits and citizenship, state-owned news agency TASS cited Deputy Speaker Irina Yarovaya as saying.
The amendments will be proposed for the second reading of a bill tightening the requirements for obtaining citizenship. The initiative was introduced to the State Duma in early March. In its original version, the draft stipulated that foreigners would be denied citizenship or a residence permit if they had an unexpunged or outstanding conviction. On May 13, the lower house of parliament passed the bill in its first reading.
The bill had been expected to apply to convictions for any crime. Under the new amendments, foreigners with outstanding convictions could still obtain temporary stay permits, residence permits and citizenship if they were “illegally convicted in other countries for supporting Russia’s policy of countering neo-Nazism and supporting the special military operation” — meaning the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“We are confident that, ahead of the second reading, we will have to additionally consider cases of people being unlawfully prosecuted in other countries for supporting the Russian Federation,” Yarovaya said.
The State Duma is considering several other amendments that would tighten migration laws. In early April, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said that MPs planned to double the number of grounds for expelling migrants from Russia, including violations of public order and failure to comply with the demands of police officers and National Guard personnel.
