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News > Russia

Russia's Upper House Approves Accession of Four Territories

  • Session of the Federation Council in Moscow, Russia, Oct 4, 2022.

    Session of the Federation Council in Moscow, Russia, Oct 4, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/ @PeoplesDailyapp

Published 4 October 2022
Opinion

Some 3 million people join the Russian Federation, which will now have 150 million citizens.

On Tuesday, Russia's Upper House (the Federation Council) ratified agreements on the accession of Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhia, and Kherson to Russia.

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"The laws that we approved today will be forwarded immediately to the President of Russia," Senate President Valentina Matviyenko said after senators unanimously approved the treaties, which were also unanimously ratified by the Lower House (Duma) on Monday.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov anticipated that President Vladimir Putin could enact the treaties and bring them into force today. This will happen without any special ceremony since the Russian leader already made a speech about it on Friday.

The incorporation of the two republics and the two separatist regions will force to reform the Russian Constitution whose article 65 defined 85 federal entities and now it should indicate the existence of 89 entities.

After the annexation of these four territories, the population of the Russian Federation will increase from 147 million to 150 million citizens. The laws passed by the Russian Parliament recognize residents of the new constituent entities as Russian citizens as of Sept. 30.

In order to access this benefit, they must submit applications and be sworn in as citizens. Within the next month, they will also be able to refuse Russian citizenship if they do not want it. Once they achieve their Russian citizenship, people will be guaranteed their rights to work, education, pensions, social security, and medical aid, as reported by the TASS agency

The new regulations also establish a transition period that will last until January 1, 2026 and includes some specific economic and political provisions. For example, the Russian ruble will become the only currency used in all four territories as of January 1, 2023.

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