President Vladimir Putin has signed a law on facilitating the granting of Russian Federation (RF) citizenship.

The law applies to those persons who are fluent in Russian and who live within the territory of the ex-USSR, or the former Russian Empire, but within the national borders of the present-day RF.   

To be granted RF citizenship, the foreign citizen—or the stateless person—will have to pass an interview with a special committee.

Those people whose immediate relatives live—or had lived—within the territory of the ex-USSR, or the former Russian Empire, but within the national borders of the present-day RF, also are eligible for the aforesaid interview.