Putin allows Russian intelligence officers to have dual citizenship
Russian President Vladimir Putin is going to allow intelligence officers to have dual citizenship. On September 22, as part of the amendments to the Constitution, Putin submitted to the Russian State Duma amendments to the laws on foreign intelligence and the Federal Security Service (FSB), Vedomosti reports.
The lower house of the Russian parliament has already approved the law and sent it to the upper house. The explanatory note to the law says that the document proposes the introduction of a ban on the possession of residence permits in another country for military, FSB, SVR (Foreign Intelligence Service) employees, "unless it is required for operational and intelligence activities."
Before this, the ban on the possession of foreign residence permits did not apply to SVR employees. They were not allowed to have only non-Russian citizenship.
It was impossible to join the FSB while being a dual citizen. If an employee were found to have a residence permit in another country, he could be dismissed. According to Putin's law, these restrictions are lifted.
There will be no ban on second citizenship for the security services anymore. Now obtaining foreign citizenship will have to be approved b the head of the service "if this is required for solving operational and service activities."