Putin orders citizenship route for foreign military volunteers

Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a decree Thursday offering a citizenship path for foreign citizens who volunteer to fight in Ukraine. File Photo by Kremlin POOL/ UPI. | License Photo

Jan. 4 (UPI) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered citizenship to foreigners who volunteer to fight in Russia’s war in Ukraine, according to the state-run Tass News Agency.

The document provides a process for citizenship applications for “foreign citizens who have concluded a contract for military service in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation or military formations during the period of a special military operation or military service in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation or military formations.”

Applicants must demonstrated that they signed up for at least one year of service.

According to Tass, the document says volunteers who have to leave for medical reasons will still have access to citizenship application.

In 2022, Putin issued a partial conscription order, which resulted in protests and a large number of Russians trying to leave the country.

The Russian military has struggled with manpower issues throughout its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022.

The Russian military relied on the Wagner Mercenary Group, which recruited fighters from prisons in exchange for amnesty, to boost its fighting capacity.

In June, Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin launched an abortive mutiny against the Russian Defense Ministry.

Prigozhin was killed in a plane crash in August.

Russia has also sought foreign fighters abroad, with Cuban authorities announcing in September that they had arrested 17 people for trying to recruit fighters for Russia.

In December, Putin ordered an increase to the personnel of the armed forces by 170,000.

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