MOSCOW. Dec 13 (Interfax) - The number of foreigners seeking Russian citizenship has been on the rise, head of the Russian Interior Ministry's Main Immigration Directorate Valentina Kazakova said.
"The number of foreign citizens seeking naturalization by Russia has been on the rise since 2013, according to our statistics. About 270,000 foreigners were naturalized last year, and more than 360,000 this year," Kazakova said in an interview with the television channel Rossiya 24 (VGTRK) on Thursday.
The Interior Ministry expects "further increase of this number" and liberalization of the naturalization procedure, she said.
More than 130,000 Ukrainian citizens were naturalized by Russia this year, Kazakova said. "Citizens of Kazakhstan and Tajikistan rank second amongst naturalization seekers. Of course, such requests are mostly made by CIS citizens," she said.
In all, Russia has naturalized over 360,000 Ukrainian citizens since 2014, Kazakova said.