Poroshenko proposes to give residents of Crimea foreign passports of an old type

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko ordered to provide citizens in the occupied territories of Donbas and Crimea with the opportunity to get the old type foreign passport.

According to the 112-Ukraine TV channel, he reported this during the preparatory meeting for the visa free regime implementation.

“If we objectively have problems with giving passports to those living in the occupied territories of Donbas or Crimea, we should analyze our regulatory network and do not leave them without passports. If we have no reasons to grant them biometric passports, the proposal should be immediately submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers, in agreement with Ukrainian Security Service and Foreign Ministry, ensuring that we can give these citizens foreign passports of the old form. This issue must be solved”, – said Poroshenko.

As a reminder, on May 14, Petro Poroshenko stated during the press-conference that residents of the Russian-annexed Crimea will be able to take advantage of all the benefits of a visa-free regime only after the de-occupation of the peninsula. He added that only IDPs can go to Europe without visas.

On May 15, during the broadcast of one of the Ukrainian TV channels, President of Ukraine noted that Ukraine will create the most comfortable conditions for obtaining biometric passports for those residents of Crimea who decided to remain faithful to their country.

On May 15, the Presidential Administration explained to the Krym.Realiyi that Crimean residents will be able to use the visa-free regime. The president meant the inaccessibility of visas only for those Crimeans who, after the annexation of the peninsula, renounced Ukrainian citizenship.

At the same time, the Crimean Human Rights Group notes that citizens of Ukraine from Crimea and Donbas should receive biometric passports without restrictions.

“We remind that the occupied territories of Ukraine in accordance with the Law of Ukraine “On Securing the Rights and Freedoms of Citizens and the Legal Regime on the Temporarily Occupied Territory of Ukraine” and the Law of Ukraine “On Interim Measures for the Period of the Anti-terrorist Operation” are territories of Ukraine, which is subject to the Constitution and Laws of Ukraine”, – said in the statement.

The organization also reminds that the Law of Ukraine “On Securing the Rights and Freedoms of Citizens and the Legal Regime on the Temporarily Occupied Territory of Ukraine” establishes that the forced automatic imposition of Russian citizenship by the citizens of Ukraine, who reside in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, are not sufficient grounds for the loss of Ukrainian citizenship and is not recognized by Ukraine. The documents of the Council of Europe, the European Union, the UN, the OSCE, recognize the actions of the Russian Federation on the “passportization” of Ukrainian citizens in Crimea as coercion to citizenship.

Thus, citizens of Ukraine who stayed in Crimea and Donbas have the same right to obtain documents for traveling abroad as everyone else. They remain citizens of Ukraine, except in cases of rejection of Ukrainian citizenship in accordance with the procedure established by the laws of Ukraine.