The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation has developed draft orders amending the procedure for verifying and terminating Russian citizenship. If they are adopted, Russian citizenship will be retained by persons who have committed violations of the procedure for its termination.
It is envisaged that verification of the presence or absence of Russian citizenship will be carried out by the Ministry of Internal Affairs or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation at the request of a citizen or on their own initiative, if they have information that a citizen has violated the procedure for acquiring or terminating citizenship. The check should take no more than two months.
If the facts of violation of the regulations on acquisition of citizenship are revealed, it will be considered that the person does not have Russian citizenship. This provision is especially important in the light of the recent amendments to the law on citizenship, which expanded the list of offences that are equated to violation of the procedure for acquiring citizenship.
In addition, if it is found that a person has committed violations during the procedure of termination of citizenship, he will be recognized as having retained the status of a Russian citizen. In this case, all his obligations to the Russian Federation will be restored, while "overdue" obligations may lead to liability.
These changes cannot but go unnoticed against the background of the fact that, according to data from Russian representations and consulates abroad, more than four thousand people, including several businessmen participating in the Forbes list, renounced Russian citizenship in 2022.
See: https://regulation.gov.ru/Regulation/Npa/PublicView?npaID=141077
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