Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday signed into law a decree granting Russian citizenship to foreigners who have concluded a contract to serve in the Russian armed forces, and their family members, a document published on Russia's legal information portal read.
"Foreign citizens who have concluded a contract for military service in the Russian armed forces or military formations during the special military operation or who are serving in the Russian armed forces or military formations during the special military operation have the right to apply for ... Russian citizenship," the document read.
The same right, as follows from the decree, will be given to foreign citizens who have resigned from the Russian armed forces during the special military operation, their spouses and children.
Furthermore, Putin signed into law a decree granting Russian citizenship to Ukrainian citizens and stateless persons born and residing in Crimea before March 18, 2014.
"To grant the right to apply for admission to Russian citizenship ... to the following foreign citizens and stateless persons, including those who previously had Russian citizenship and formalized their renunciation of Russian citizenship, ... Ukrainian citizens who do not have citizenship (nationality) of another state, who were born and permanently resided in the territories of the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, who left these territories before March 18, 2014," the document read.
Individuals deported from the territory of the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic as part of the Soviet Union or their descendants will also have the right to apply for Russian citizenship, the decree read.
Moreover, citizens of Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen and Syria, who were born on the territory of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and had the citizenship of the Soviet Union in the past, as well as their parents, spouses and children, will have the right to apply for Russian citizenship, the document read.