Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday signed a law to strip naturalized Russians who “threaten national security” of their citizenship, Reuters reported, citing Moscow news agencies.

The TASS agency emphasizes that the law does not apply to Russian citizens who were born on the territory of Russia, recalling that the Kremlin introduced the bill to the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, in December 2021.

However, the provisions regarding the cancellation of citizenship of persons who obtained it through naturalization were later adopted by making changes.

Russian authorities will now be able to strip a naturalized person of their citizenship if they commit a crime or if they are found to have submitted false documents or provided false information during the naturalization process.

In the case of actions that Russia considers threatening its national security, the decision to revoke citizenship will be made by the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Moscow or its territorial bodies.

In addition to this measure and the deprivation of citizenship of persons convicted of terrorist acts already provided for by Russian law, the list of crimes for which naturalized Russians can be deprived of citizenship was expanded due to subversive activities, facilitating such activities or organizing a “community” of saboteurs.

In December of last year, Russia tightened legislation on sabotage.

Ironically, Russia condemns calls for war

Obtained citizenship can also be revoked for “violation of the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation”, discrediting its armed forces, desertion and “public calls for extremism and launching a war of aggression”.

In addition, this list includes crimes related to “encroachment on the life of a state or public figure”, destruction or damage to military graves, rehabilitation of Nazism and others.

However, the new law also provides for a simplified procedure for obtaining Russian citizenship for various categories of foreigners, including those who are called up for military service in the armed forces of the Russian Federation, “other troops or military formations for a period of at least one year” – a separate provision for the group of Wagner mercenaries under conducted by Yevhen Prigozhin.

This category of foreigners will be able to obtain Russian citizenship even without permanent residence in the country.

Putin is preparing to deport Ukrainians from the occupied territories

On Thursday, the head of the Kremlin released another draft law adopted by the Russian parliament, which provides for the possibility of deportation of Ukrainian citizens from territories that Putin declared annexed last year.

According to the decree, Ukrainians from the occupied territories who decide to retain Ukrainian citizenship may be deported after July 1, 2024.

According to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the illegal deportation of the local population is considered a war crime.

On April 26, Deputy Defense Minister of Ukraine Hanna Malyar reported that Russia initiated the large-scale relocation of Russian citizens to the occupied territories of Ukraine, continuing to deport the local population.

Local Ukrainians are forcibly deported “under various pretexts” to Russia, especially those suspected of “pro-Ukrainian positions,” Malyar writes.

“In this way, the enemy is trying to destroy Ukrainian statehood and the national identity of society in the temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories,” added the Deputy Minister of Defense from Kyiv.

Thousands of Ukrainian children have also been deported since the beginning of Russia’s total war.

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