Moscow, April 16 (IANS/ITAR -TASS) The upper house of parliament Wednesday approved a law
making it easier for Russian-speakers to obtain citizenship.
"If these people or their ascendants live permanently or lived earlier in Russia or on a territory belonging to the Russian Empire or the Soviet Union, within Russian state borders," they can obtain Russian citizenship after giving up their previous citizenship, the law says.
The main criterion to get citizenship will be knowledge of Russian and its use in daily life.
"The committee will not set a task to evaluate literacy, for instance, in a dictation, but the main criterion will be free knowledge of the language and its use in daily life," an official of Russia's federal migration service said.