Putin signs decree recognizing Donbas separatists' passports and other documents
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree concerning the recognition of documents issued to citizens of Ukraine and stateless persons residing in the separatist-held Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine.
The Kremlin’s site reports that the decree was signed “guided by universally recognised principles and standards of humanitarian law and in order to protect the rights and freedoms of individuals”.
Such documents will be recognised “temporarily, during the political settlement period of the crisis in certain districts of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Lugansk regions pursuant to the Minsk Agreements”.
The text on the site indicates that the recognition will apply not only to passports, but also to other documents, including birth certificates, documents concerning education, marriage and divorce, name changes, vehicle registration certificates, and also vehicle registration plates valid in the territories under consideration.
The DPR and LPR started issuing their own passports in 2015. In January 2017, out of the four million inhabitants of the DPR, about 40,000 had received the documents from the self-proclaimed republic.
Earlier, RBC wrote with reference to a source that passports from the DNR and LNR are valid in Russia according to an informal agreement between Moscow and militia representatives. The goal of this measure is to reduce social strain in the Donbas. At the same time, “the situation with the use of passports does not imply Russian recognition of the self-proclaimed republics”.