ROSTOV-ON-DON, January 27. /TASS/. More than 720,000 residents of the Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics (DPR and LPR) have so far exercised their right to obtain Russian citizenship under a simplified procedure, Governor of the Rostov Region, Vasily Golubev, said during a press conference on Thursday.

"The number of people (in the DPR and LPR) who became Russian citizens is over 720,000," Golubev said.

The governor added that the process of obtaining Russian citizenship by the residents of the republics continues. The Rostov Region has eight migration offices where citizens from the neighboring republics can apply.

In July 2021, Viktor Vodolatsky, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots, told TASS that more than 400,000 Russian citizens with passive voting rights reside in the DPR and LPR.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree "On determining, for humanitarian purposes, the category of people who have the right to apply for Russian citizenship in a simplified procedure" on April 24, 2019. The document simplifies the process of obtaining Russian passports by residents of the DPR and LPR. The first passports were issued on July 14. The documents are issued in the Rostov Region.