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Russian Senate committee to draft bill outlawing foreign citizenship for envoys soon

Earlier on Wednesday, the upper house speaker suggested banning Russian diplomats from possessing foreign citizenship or residency permits
Russia’s Federation Council Vyacheslav Prokofyev/TASS
Russia’s Federation Council
© Vyacheslav Prokofyev/TASS

MOSCOW, January 22. /TASS/. Russia’s Federation Council (upper house) Committee on Foreign Affairs will draft a bill forbidding ambassadors to obtain permanent residency or citizenship of foreign countries within a short time frame, head of the committee Konstantin Kosachev told TASS.

"The committee will draft the bill banning ambassadors from having a second citizenship and permanent residency in the shortest time frame," he said.

Earlier, the Federation Council approved a list of instructions to implement provisions of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s annual State of the Nation Address delivered on January 15. The document reads that the council’s committees on foreign affairs and constitutional legislation and state building are instructed to introduce changes to the federal legislation in cooperation with the Russian Foreign Ministry "regarding extending the ban to obtain permanent residency and (or) citizenship of foreign states to include ambassadors extraordinary and plenipotentiary of Russia."

Speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matviyenko officially opened the spring session on Wednesday and proposed to expand the list of persons who will not be allowed to hold permanent foreign residencies or citizenships by adding diplomats to it. According to her, there are cases of diplomats receiving such documents and insufficient level of attention to this issue "may cost dearly to the state."