In the Kaluga region, migrants are required to conclude a contract with the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation

In the Kaluga region, documents for obtaining Russian citizenship are not accepted from migrants until they sign a contract to participate in the war in Ukraine – claim human rights activists.

Human rights activist Tatyana Kotlyar told the “7×7” publication about five such cases, however, according to her, the region is aware of a much larger number of them.

A citizen of Tajikistan, whose name has not been released, told “7×7” that when submitting documents for citizenship, he was sent to the military enlistment office for a certificate of a contract for army service. It is claimed that he was ready to enlist, but he was not accepted into the army due to the presence of five minor children. Documents for citizenship were not accepted from him without a certificate. The publication tells about several more similar stories, including about a refugee from the Kharkiv region of Ukraine. He is said to have received temporary asylum in the Kaluga region and submitted documents for Russian citizenship. However, the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Obninsk asked him for a certificate from the military enlistment office about the conclusion of the contract. As a result, he refused to submit documents for citizenship.

At the same time, as one of the interlocutors of “7×7” claims, women’s citizenship documents are accepted in the usual way.

In August 2023, a number of regions, including St. Petersburg, were raided, during which they searched not only for migrants with expired documents or without documents, but also those who recently received Russian citizenship and did not register for the military. They were detained and taken to the military enlistment office. There is no legal requirement to sign a contract for service in the army to obtain Russian citizenship.