EU refuses to recognize new Russian passports for Ukrainians
Borrell said on Twitter the move "is yet another flagrant violation" of Ukraine's sovereignty and repeated the EU's opposition to the policy.
- World
- DPA
- Published Date: 06:30 | 13 July 2022
- Modified Date: 06:37 | 13 July 2022
The European Union will continue to not recognize new Russian passports issued to Ukrainians, the bloc's top diplomat Josep Borrell said on Wednesday.
Borrell said on Twitter the move "is yet another flagrant violation" of Ukraine's sovereignty and repeated the EU's opposition to the policy.
On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree to expand eligibility rules for Russian passports to residents living in all parts of Ukraine.
Previously this was limited to breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine controlled by Moscow-backed separatists, in a policy dating back to 2019.
More than 800,000 people in the eastern Ukrainian separatist regions have received Russian citizenship through a simplified procedure over the past three years, according to the Russian news agency TASS.
Russia has also begun offering passports to people in regions it has occupied since February after invading Ukraine, raising fears it is planning annexations similar to what happened in Crimea in 2014.
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