The first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots Konstantin Zatulin introduced to the State Duma a bill on a simplified procedure for acquiring Russian citizenship for a child, one of whose parents is a citizen of Russia, and the other has the citizenship of another country.
"The aim of the proposed amendments is to create the most simplified procedure for obtaining Russian citizenship by a child living abroad, one of whose parents or adoptive parents is a citizen of the Russian Federation or acquires Russian citizenship," the explanatory note says.
It is noted that at present, in the event of a conflict in families, the requirement of the law "On Citizenship of the Russian Federation" on the mandatory consent of a foreign parent often becomes an insurmountable obstacle to obtaining Russian citizenship for a child living abroad and a foreign citizen or stateless person who has one one of the parents or adoptive parents has the citizenship of the Russian Federation or acquires the citizenship of the Russian Federation, and the other one is a foreign citizen.
At the same time, the child's lack of Russian citizenship leads to the impossibility of protecting his interests on the part of Russia, and also significantly complicates the implementation by the compatriot parent of at least the minimum amount of parental rights guaranteed by the legislation of the Russian Federation, it is noted in the accompanying documents.
According to the author of the bill, its adoption will remove the inequality in the right of a parent-citizen of the Russian Federation to acquire Russian citizenship for his own or an adopted child, depending on the place of residence of the parent and the child: in the territory of the Russian Federation or abroad.
"The possibility of accepting a child into Russian citizenship through the unilateral expression of the will of a compatriot parent - a citizen of Russia - without the consent of the foreign parent does not contradict the existing international legal approaches to the issue of children's citizenship," Zatulin notes.
