The Baltic nation of Estonia will not recognize Russian passports issued to Ukrainian citizens from the eastern Donbas region, which Moscow and its proxies have partially occupied since 2014.
The Estonian foreign ministry announced the decision on Aug. 5. It enters into force immediately.
Urmas Reinsalu, the country’s foreign minister, said the move is a response to the Kremlin’s decision to offer citizenship to Donbas residents.
“Today’s decision by Estonia reflects our fundamental condemnation of Russia’s ambitions of this nature,” Reinsalu said, according to the foreign ministry website.
On April 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree allowing residents of the parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts de facto controlled by Moscow’s proxies to receive Russian citizenship though a simplified procedure.
Later, on July 17, Putin signed another decree expanding this simplified procedure to residents of all parts of the oblasts.
Since then, more than 13,000 people from this region have already received Russian citizenship and passports.
Reinsalu described Estonia’s decision as an expression of support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. He said he hopes that other countries of the European Union will follow.
He said issuing Russian passports to the people of the Donbas “goes completely against the spirit of the Minsk agreements,” a series of peace accords that have largely not been implemented.
Previously, Estonia has also refused to recognize Russian passports issued to residents of the Crimean peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014.
On Aug. 3, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told to Russia’s Kommersant newspaper that dual citizenship is illegal in Ukraine and he is strongly against Moscow’s decision to issue the passports.
“Imagine if I or someone from the (Ukrainian) government were to come to Krasnoyarsk (a city in Russia) and give out Ukrainian passports. It’s not right,” he said.
