Lavrov Defends Fast-Tracking Russian Passports For Eastern Ukrainians

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday defended President Vladimir Putin's decision to expand the list of Ukrainians eligible for fast-tracked Russian nationality, saying this was within international laws

BONN (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th July, 2019) Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday defended President Vladimir Putin's decision to expand the list of Ukrainians eligible for fast-tracked Russian nationality, saying this was within international laws.

Putin updated an earlier decree on Wednesday that made it easier for Ukrainians in self-proclaimed republics in Donbas to get a Russian passport to include residents of government-controlled areas of the region as well.

"The European Convention on Nationality says clearly that each state determines under its own law who are its nationals. This alone should suffice," Lavrov said at a press conference in Bonn.

He lashed out at Putin's critics for their "lopsided and biased" take on Russian nationality rules, and accusing them of ignoring the needs of millions living under what he said was an economic blockade.

"People have no access to medical aid ... , to any other basic services that a normal state offers its citizens," Lavrov argued.

Five years of war between government forces and pro-independence fighters in eastern Ukraine has killed 13,000 people despite several agreed ceasefires. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said ending the conflict was one of his top priorities.