Russian Court Works to Establish Citizenship for Crimean Residents

Russia's Constitutional Court is examining whether it was against the supreme law to grant Russian citizenship to all permanent residents of Crimea after the peninsula's reunification with the country, a representative of the court told RIA Novosti.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — A Russian citizen stated in his complaint that the article of the treaty on Crimea becoming a part of Russia that granted Russian citizenship to the residents of Crimea, unless they declared within one month (by April 18, 2014) their desire to maintain another citizenship or to remain stateless, contradicts the Constitution of the Russian Federation.

"A compliant by Olenev A. G. on the violation of his constitutional rights by Section 1 of Article 4 of the Federal Constitutional Law 'On the Accession of the Republic of Crimea in the Russian Federation and on Forming New Constituent Entities within the Russian Federation' is accepted for review," the court said on its website.

Crimea reunified with Russia in March 2014 following a political referendum in the region, in which 96 percent of the population voted in favor of joining Russia.

Ukraine and the West have to date refused to recognize the vote, imposing economic sanctions against the peninsula that include investment bans and restrictive measures targeting Crimean individuals and entities.