Advisor to the head of the President’s Office, Mikhail Podolyak, said that the Ukrainian passport is a symbol of heroism, while the Russian one today is the mark of an outcast.
Source: Podolyak on Twitter
Podolyak’s direct speech: “Any attempts to distribute Russian passports in the occupied territories are legally meaningless and unpromising. The Ukrainian passport in the world today is a symbol of courage and heroism. The Russian passport is the mark of an outcast.”
Details: Podolyak recalled that Ukrainians “travel freely around the world without visas and borders,” so it is not clear why they need a “ticket to the Russian concentration camp.”
Background:
- On May 25, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the simplified admission to Russian citizenship of residents of the occupied territories of the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions of Ukraine.
- The occupying authorities announced that all residents of the Kherson region will have the right to obtain Russian citizenship, and they are also going to return the coat of arms of the times of the Russian Empire in the occupied territory.
- Ukraine considers Putin’s decree on Russian passports to be “insignificant”.
- On May 25, the Russian invaders informed the local residents of Mariupol that they could acquire Russian citizenship without obtaining the intermediate citizenship of the so-called “DPR”.
- Andriy Klishas, head of the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation, said that the right to decide whether to continue living with Russia belongs to residents of all Ukrainian territories occupied by the Russian Federation, and not just those who live in Donbas.