Citizens of Ukraine will need to legalize their presence or leave, according to a new presidential decree
Ukrainians living in Russia without valid residence documents have less than six months to legalize their stay or leave the country, according to a decree signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday.
Ukrainian citizens who register with the Russian Interior Ministry via mandatory medical registration, photographing, and fingerprinting will not be liable for violating the rules of stay in Russia until September 10, according to the order.
Among the legitimate grounds for residency are legal employment or enrollment in a Russian education program. The decree came into force with immediate effect.
The Russian Health Ministry has been tasked with providing undocumented migrants from Ukraine with a medical examination and registration before the cutoff date. The standard Russian visa process requires a medical test to prove the absence of illegal drug use and sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV.
In addition, the decision applies to all foreign citizens and stateless people in the Zaporozhye Region, Kherson Region, and the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, which joined Russia in the fall of 2022. All such people must undergo medical tests to confirm the absence of illegal drug use and HIV before June 10, the decree states.
Over 3.5 million people in Russia’s new regions have received their Russian passports, the Interior Ministry reported earlier this month. Ukrainian sources put the total pre-war populations of the regions at around 8,8 million.
As of late 2024 around 740,000 undocumented migrants resided in Russia, according to the Interior Ministry.
More than 5.3 million Ukrainians have fled to Russia since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022, TASS said in 2023, citing an official source.
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