Ukrainian parliament passes bill on multiple citizenship

MOSCOW. June 18 (Interfax) - The Ukrainian parliament has passed a bill on multiple citizenship to facilitate the naturalization procedure, Ukrainian media said, citing a statement by parliament member Alexei Goncharenko on a social network.

The bill amending certain laws to ensure the right to acquire and retain the Ukrainian citizenship passed at a plenary meeting on Wednesday.

As reported, the bill legalizes foreign citizenship and the right to be naturalized by a foreign state without surrendering the Ukrainian citizenship.

The bill allows citizens of other countries to be naturalized in Ukraine for ethnic reasons in a fast-track procedure. It also provides fast-track naturalization for foreigners on military service in Ukraine.

The bill prohibits civil servants and judges from having multiple citizenship.

The bill specifies that a person with a foreign passport, who is also a citizen of Ukraine, shall be viewed as a Ukrainian citizen only on the territory of Ukraine.

The bill on multiple citizenship names countries the citizenship of which is incompatible with the Ukrainian citizenship, the media said, citing a statement by head of the Ukrainian Parliament Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy Yevgeniya Kravchuk.

These are Russia, Belarus, and "countries that do not recognize the territorial integrity of Ukraine [...] Eritrea and North Korea," Kravchuk said at a press briefing in Kiev on Wednesday.

The government is due to list countries with which Ukrainian citizens can have multiple citizenship, Kravchuk said. These include EU and G7 member states, she said.