On September 24, 2003, the YABLOKO faction will support in the State Duma the amendments to the law "On Citizenship" that aim to simplify the procedure for obtaining Russian citizenship submitted by the President of the RF to parliament on Wednesday, September 24, 2003. Such a statement was made by Deputy Head of the YABLKO party, deputy of the State Duma Sergei Mitrokhin. "We sharply opposed the original law during the debates [in the Duma] in 2002 as it was too stringent," said Mitrokhin. "Deputies from the YABLOKO faction said that the proposed draft deprived millions of our compatriots of a change to return to their historic homeland, and many of them face discrimination where they currently live. In addition the draft impeded the inflow of labour resources to our country, which directly harms our country, in view of natural loss and the general ageing of the population."

Mitrokhin also reiterated that the law "On Citizenship" had been adopted in its existing version owing to votes from the centrist factions of the Duma - Unity, Fatherland -All Russia, People's Deputy and Russia's Regions, as well as the LDPR. "The custom of working in accordance with orders from the top and their uncritical attitude to the draft laws proposed by the "bosses' has played a cruel joke on the centrists," noted Mitrokhin. "The Duma adopted a law facilitating the work of the Interior Ministry, while inflicting huge damage on the country in general. Now, after the President has openly spoken against the present variant of the law, the Duma majority has completely changed its position."

YABLOKO thinks that the law "On Citizenship" should be as liberal as possible towards citizens of the former Soviet republics, who would like to obtain a Russian passport. "Our country is not only in desperate need for immigration to resolve its geopolitical, demographic and economic problems. It is also morally responsible to the population of the former USSR, irrespective of their nationality," stated Mitrokhin. "The task of placing a barrier to prevent an influx of criminals from former Soviet republics into Russia should be resolved through other legislatives acts related above all the performance of law enforcement agencies."

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