Russia mulls fast-track citizenship for Ukraine's ethnic Russians

Ukrainians of Russian origin should have a right for fast-track Russian citizenship, a member of Duma, or lower house of Russia's parliament, said on Monday. "If at least one of the direct ancestors (of a Ukrainian) was Russian by birth, an applicant may receive Russian citizenship in six months," Ilya Drozdov, who drafted an amendment to the Law on Citizenship, told a Duma meeting. Drozdov, who is a member of the Duma Committee on CIS Affairs and Eurasian Integration, said members of an immediate family up to three generations of such a person would also be fast-tracked for the Russian passports. "The amendment would allow legal emigration of the ethnic Russians from Ukraine," he said. Last week, Ukraine's parliament canceled a law which had guaranteed the Russian language an equal status with the Ukrainian. On Monday, Russian Upper House of the Parliament, or the Federation Council, called that decision "disturbing and hasty." Ukraine is divided between the Russian-speaking east and the Ukrainian-speaking west. On Sunday, Russia recalled its ambassador to Ukraine Mikhail Zurabov for "consultations" over escalation of the situation in Ukraine.