MOSCOW, September 17. /TASS/. Since the beginning of the year, over 126 thousand people have received Russian citizenship, chiefly citizens of Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, Head of the General Administration for Migration Issues of the Russian Interior Ministry Olga Kirillova told TASS.
"The ministry’s statistical data shows that in the first half of this year, around 126.5 thousand people have received Russian citizenship. Last year, the number was 125.2 thousand people. Mainly, people from former Soviet republics have received citizenship - from Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan. This is quite understandable and can be explained by the proximity of the territories, shared history, lack of language barrier and similar mentality," she explained.
Kirillova also noted that the amount of people who received Russian citizenship due to being a native speaker of the language has quadrupled compared to last year. "In the first six months of last year, there were 4 thousand people, and in the same period of this year - over 15.5 thousand," the ministry official informed. She added that the amount of people moving to Russia as part of the program on facilitating voluntary resettlement of Russians living abroad has grown significantly, reaching 61 thousand people in the first half of the year.
She added that for the most part, people from CIS countries, such as Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Armenia, Tajikistan, Moldova, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan, are taking interest in this program. Russian residents of Germany, Israel and the Baltic states also take part in the program.