Russia’s president Vladimir Putin signed a decree to simplify the granting of Russian citizenship for all Ukrainians, according to a document published on the country’s legal information portal on Monday, July 11, 2022.

The decree extends a policy that had until now been offered to residents of the Russian-backed, self-declared republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, as well as residents of the Ukrainian regions of Zaporizhia and Kherson, where Russia’s military controls swathes of land.

“Ukrainian nationals, citizens of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (…) have a right to apply for Russian citizenship under simplified procedure,” the document reads.

Russia recognized Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states on February 21, three days before the start of its invasion of Ukraine.

Over 800,000 Ukrainian from the separatist regions applied for citizenship since the policy was applied by Moscow in 2019, according to Russian figures.

On May 30, Putin signed a decree that simplified the granting of Russian citizenship to orphans and Ukrainians with disabilities.