Russian President Putin today, January 4th, signed a decree which quickens the path even more for foreigners serving in the Russian military to attain citizenship. This is not the first time he has done this, with first in September 2022 shortening citizenship requirements to signing a contract of 1 year or more with the Russian military, and participating in active hostilities for at least 6 months, regardless of their competency in speaking Russian or how long they’d lived in Russia for.
In May of 2023, Putin signed a decree in which the 6 months participation in hostilities requirement was dropped, meaning those who signed up for a year or more contract could be fast tracked for citizenship, as well as their spouse and children.
In today’s decree, the decision making process on citizenship applications for those fast tracking the process has been shortened from a maximum of 3 months to a maximum of 1 month.
The decree comes amidst Russian efforts to bolster the size of its military as the war in Ukraine continues to drag on.
