Russian President calls for simpler naturalization procedure

Russian President Vladimir Putin has held a routine Kremlin meeting with the Minister of Ethnic Affairs, Vladimir Zorin.

Following the meeting, the minister told the press that Putin and he had discussed in detail the Russian government's ethnic policies. The President laid particular emphasis on the development of frontier regions and on cooperation between them, as well as on the improvement of the migration legislation, Zorin said.

The Russian Chief Executive underscored the necessity of facilitating the naturalization procedure for citizens of the former Soviet republics.

A governmental commission has now been set up to administer migration issues and a citizenship law has been adopted, Zorin said. A bill on the legal basis for labor migration is currently being considered in the State Duma, or parliament's lower house, he added.

At a recent meeting with the Volga Federal District governors, President Putin brought up problems facing frontier regions and growing migration, Zorin said. He gave instructions as to the development of ethnic relations in the country, pointing out that this should be an object of the state's concern.