Issuance of Russian passports to residents of the occupied areas in Donetsk and Luhansk regions is an exclusively domestic affair of Russia - just like handing Ukrainian passports is that of Ukraine. Dmitriy Peskov, press secretary of the Russian leader Vladimir Putin said so at a briefing on July 18.
Russia has every right to do so, he said, citing the recent decision of Volodymyr Zelensky "to work on the issue of handing passports to ethnic Ukrainians living in other states".
"This is Ukraine's domestic affair. And Putin's decision is solid and understandable", the official said.
He also said many residents of Donetsk and Luhansk regions had repeatedly asked the Russian side for Russian passports.
On June 14, it was reported that the citizens of occupied Donbas began to get the passports of the Russian Federation registered in the simplified order in accordance with the April order of the Russian president.
Foreign Ministry of Ukraine condemned such measures stating about the intention to continue work on the imposing of proper sanctions against Russia.
