DONETSK, July 4. /TASS/. Former Ukrainian tankman Maxim Likhachev, who surrendered to Russia with his T-64 tank, has been granted Russian citizenship, a law enforcement source in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) has told TASS.

"Maxim Likhachev received a Russian passport and is now a citizen of the Russian Federation," the source said.

Likhachev, in turn, described it as a "long-awaited document."

Likhachev voluntarily surrendered to Russian troops in late May near Donetsk and hijacked his T-64 tank. The tankman was born in Krasnodon, a town in the Lugansk People’s Republic.