MOSCOW. June 28 (Interfax) - The Russian Interior Ministry's local offices have started accepting applications from dual Russian-Ukrainian citizens willing to renounce their Ukrainian citizenship, the ministry said on Wednesday.
"This law stipulates that all Russian citizens who also have Ukrainian citizenship will be viewed as not having Ukrainian citizenship from the date they submit an application stating that they are unwilling to hold Ukrainian citizenship," the ministry said.
An application can be submitted to any local office of the Russian Interior Ministry or via the Unified Portal of State and Municipal Services (Functions).
"The use of this mechanism should enable Russians who have Ukrainian citizenship to fully exercise their rights when citizenship of a foreign state is a restrictive factor; for example, when they wish to exercise their right to be elected to state government bodies or local self-government bodies, to receive clearance for access to state secrets, or to be employed by state or municipal institutions," it said.
Russian citizens who have reached 14 years of age can submit an application on their own, while applications on behalf of children under this age can be submitted by their parents or legal representatives.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the federal law On Specific Aspects of the Legal Status of Russian Citizens Having Ukrainian Citizenship on March 18, which introduced a mechanism for Russian citizens who also have Ukrainian passports to submit applications renouncing their Ukrainian citizenship.
Ukrainian citizenship of such citizens will be deemed null and void the moment they file the application.
The law obligates such citizens from the date of submitting the application to refrain from exercising the rights and performing the duties of a Ukrainian citizen. In particular, they shall refrain from obtaining and using a Ukrainian passport and other documents certifying Ukrainian citizenship or containing an indication of Ukrainian citizenship, except for cases when these actions are performed in order to terminate Ukrainian citizenship as well as in other, if necessary, cases envisaged by the Russian president.
Should a failure to honor the obligations be uncovered, the Russian Interior Ministry or its territorial branch will draft a respective motion and duly notify the Russian Federal Security Service and the respective citizen. In this case, the citizen's declaration of unwillingness to be a Ukrainian citizen will be deemed invalid and such a person will be viewed as one with Ukrainian citizenship since the motion date.
The law allows re-declaring the unwillingness to be a citizen of Ukraine ten years after the motion date.
The law eliminates the need to declare unwillingness to be a citizen of Ukraine for those who did so earlier in accordance with the federal constitutional laws of March 21, 2014, on the accession of Crimea and Sevastopol to the Russian Federation, and laws on the accession of the Donetsk People's Republic, the Lugansk People's Republic, and the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions to the Russian Federation.
The Russian Interior Ministry estimates that the bill might apply to 2.17 million people.