For “discrediting the army” they will lose the acquired citizenship of the Russian Federation

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday signed the law “On citizenship”, which allows Russian citizenship to be revoked for so-called fakes and discrediting of the army. The law applies only to those Russians whose citizenship is acquired and not acquired by birth.

Deprivation of acquired citizenship is provided for acts that the court considers discrediting the army and for “committing actions that pose a threat to national security.” These may include public calls for “actions against the country’s territorial integrity”, calls for extremism and the rehabilitation of Nazism.

At the same time, the new law simplifies the conditions for obtaining Russian citizenship for more than 20 categories of persons. In particular, foreigners who have signed a contract for service in the Russian army and “other military formations” for a period of at least one hour will be able to become citizens of Russia without delay.

The document is published on the official portal of legal information. It will enter into force in 180 days.

• According to the Constitution, a citizen born on the territory of Russia cannot be deprived of citizenship. However, if the citizenship was not obtained by birth, it is possible to cancel it due to errors in the submitted documents or by court order. In addition, in 2017, a law was adopted on the deprivation of acquired Russian citizenship of those convicted of terrorism and extremism.