Russian President on citizenship law

Russian President Vladimir Putin hopes the citizenship law that Russia has adopted will be used as a guideline while formulating policy in this sphere.

Adopting a law is one thing, but putting it into practice is quite another, the president said during a Kremlin-based conference with members of the government. On the one hand, the law is meant to protect the interests of Russian citizens from the point of view of the inflow of emigrants, on the other, it must not close the doors on our former fellow countrymen who found themselves, after the disintegration of the USSR, on the territory of some other independent states and who want to reside in Russia. The country needs these people, in the economic sense as well as otherwise, said the president.