LONDON: President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Wednesday simplifying the process for residents of Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions to acquire Russian citizenship and passports.
The decree marks a further step toward “Russification” of the two regions, where Moscow’s war in Ukraine has enabled it to establish a continuous land bridge linking Russia to the Crimean peninsula which it seized from Ukraine in 2014.
Putin’s move extends a scheme available to residents of areas controlled by Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions, where Moscow has issued around 800,000 passports since 2019.
Russia claimed full control of the Kherson region, north of Crimea, in mid-March, and holds parts of Zaporizhzhia region to the north-east.
In Kherson, the Ukrainian governor has been ousted and the military-civilian administration said earlier this month that it planned to ask Putin to incorporate it into Russia by the end of 2022. Ukraine has pledged to recapture all of its seized territory.
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Russia offers fast-track citizenship to residents of occupied Ukraine
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Russia offers fast-track citizenship to residents of occupied Ukraine
- The decree marks a further step towards "Russification" of the two regions
- Putin's move extends a scheme available to residents of Donetsk and Luhansk
Pope Leo warns of ‘new arms race’ as US-Russia treaty to expire
- New START, the last nuclear treaty between Washington and Moscow, is due to expire on Thursday
- The treaty was signed in 2010 by then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his US counterpart Barack Obama
VATICAN CITY: Pope Leo XIV warned Wednesday of the risk of “a new arms race” as the last US-Russia nuclear treaty is set to expire.
New START, the last nuclear treaty between Washington and Moscow after decades of agreements dating to the Cold War, is due to expire on Thursday, and with it restrictions on the two top nuclear powers.
“I urge you not to abandon this instrument without seeking to ensure that it is followed up in a concrete and effective manner,” the American pope said at his weekly general audience.
“The current situation requires us to do everything possible to avert a new arms race, which further threatens peace between nations,” he said.
Leo, the Catholic Church’s first American pontiff, said it was “more urgent than ever to replace the logic of fear and mistrust with a shared ethic capable of guiding choices toward the common good.”
The Kremlin has offered a one-year extension of the treaty, but while US President Donald Trump said in September that an extension of the New START “sounds like a good idea,” little has changed since then.
The treaty, which included a monitoring mechanism, was signed in 2010 by then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his US counterpart Barack Obama.
But Russia suspended monitoring inspections during the Covid-19 pandemic and talks on extending the agreement have broken down in recent years due to tensions over the Ukraine war.
Moscow had also accused Washington of impeding monitoring missions on US soil.
In 2023, Russia froze its participation in New START, but it has continued to voluntarily adhere to the limits set in the treaty.
Moscow has last year tested its latest nuclear weapon carriers without atomic warheads, and Trump said he was moving two nuclear submarines closer to Russia.
New START, the last nuclear treaty between Washington and Moscow after decades of agreements dating to the Cold War, is due to expire on Thursday, and with it restrictions on the two top nuclear powers.
“I urge you not to abandon this instrument without seeking to ensure that it is followed up in a concrete and effective manner,” the American pope said at his weekly general audience.
“The current situation requires us to do everything possible to avert a new arms race, which further threatens peace between nations,” he said.
Leo, the Catholic Church’s first American pontiff, said it was “more urgent than ever to replace the logic of fear and mistrust with a shared ethic capable of guiding choices toward the common good.”
The Kremlin has offered a one-year extension of the treaty, but while US President Donald Trump said in September that an extension of the New START “sounds like a good idea,” little has changed since then.
The treaty, which included a monitoring mechanism, was signed in 2010 by then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his US counterpart Barack Obama.
But Russia suspended monitoring inspections during the Covid-19 pandemic and talks on extending the agreement have broken down in recent years due to tensions over the Ukraine war.
Moscow had also accused Washington of impeding monitoring missions on US soil.
In 2023, Russia froze its participation in New START, but it has continued to voluntarily adhere to the limits set in the treaty.
Moscow has last year tested its latest nuclear weapon carriers without atomic warheads, and Trump said he was moving two nuclear submarines closer to Russia.
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