Under the law, people who arrived in Russia before July 1, 2002, or are already registered in Russia, or have a temporary residence permit, or received a residence permit after July 1, 2002, can count on the simplified procedure. The simplified procedure is that these persons do not need to live in the country for five years with a residence permit and pass a Russian language exam to obtain Russian citizenship. Currently, this law applies to those who declare their desire to accept Russian citizenship before January 1, 2006.
At the chamber's meeting, the presidential plenipotentiary representative in the State Duma, Alexander Kosopkin, presented the bill. He drew the deputies' attention to the fact that 'a fairly large number of citizens fall under the simplified procedure for obtaining Russian citizenship.' Vladimir Pligin, the chairman of the profile committee on constitutional legislation and state building, who gave a supplementary report, noted that the law's effect would apply only to those former USSR citizens who are currently on Russian territory. However, in his opinion, in the future, as part of improving migration legislation, the State Duma should more broadly consider a set of issues related to granting Russian citizenship to former USSR citizens.
Pligin also noted that 'the issue of granting citizenship is not only moral and political, but also economic, since when resolving it one must take into account the budget's capabilities, because granting citizenship entails the possibility of obtaining certain rights.' The head of the committee on state construction also said that the bill would be considered by the State Duma under an expedited procedure.
No deputy doubted the need to make life easier for people left without citizenship after the collapse of the USSR. 'Three years ago, the then Duma majority represented by the Unity faction voted for that draconian law, which can be called not a law on citizenship, but a law on the dismemberment of the Russian people. It is good that they admitted their mistakes,' recalled the history of the issue, Viktor Alksnis, a deputy from the Rodina – Narodnaya Volya faction. 'I will vote for this law, although it is a meter-long shift toward correcting the draconian citizenship law. We still have many kilometers to go.' The deputy also expressed the opinion that ethnic Russians should have priority right to obtain Russian citizenship.
Alksnis was supported by his faction colleague Vladimir Nikitin: 'The 2002 citizenship law was adopted on the premise that Russia is not a thoroughfare. Now it has become clear that Russia is a thoroughfare for illegal migrants who use the corruption of our officials to obtain citizenship. Now we need to introduce the concept of repatriation, the concept of the indigenous peoples of Russia, who would have the right to simplified citizenship, unless these people have committed criminal offenses.' Valentin Romanov, a member of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation faction, also supported the bill. 'The only strange point is that a person applying for citizenship under the simplified procedure does not have to know the Russian language. We all lived on the territory of the Soviet state and all know Russian,' the deputy said.
As a result, the bill was passed with 439 votes. Alexander Kosopkin recalled that he would like to have time this year to consider the presidential initiative in the second and third readings. The deputies will try.