Press Release, 27.11.2014

YABLOKO leader Sergei Mitrokhin lodged an application to Sergei Lavrov, Russian Foreign Affairs Minister, to solve the problem of Russian citizenship for a well-known dissident, writer and human rights activist Vladimir Bukovsky.

“The situation around the issue that Vladimir Bukovsky [allegedly did not have] the citizenship of the Russian Federation [as was announced by the Foreign Affairs Ministry] is causing reputational damage not only to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but the whole country,” runs Sergei Mitrokhin’s statement.

Mitrokhin also stated that there were no grounds to question Vladimir Bukovsky’s Russian citizenship. In 1992, then President of Russia Boris Yeltsin granted Bukovsky citizenship of the Russian Federation (as a citizen of the USSR). Russian Ambassador to the UK personally in a solemn ceremony handed a Russian passport to Vladimir Bukovsky, and in 2008 this passport was replaced by a new one.

According to YABLOKO’s leader, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should start an internal audit on the circumstances of loss of documents, rather than denying the applicant issuing a passport for foreign travel, moreover making any conclusions that the applicant had not have the citizenship of the Russian Federation.

“This attitude of the Ministry to the world famous human rights activist and writer neglecting the decision of the first Russian President Boris Yeltsin is so cynical and unprofessional, that makes us think about its political motives,” Sergei Mitrokhin said.

Also it should be noted that in response to the request of Dmitry Gudkov, Russian MP, the Russian Foreign Ministry said it could not find any grounds to grant Russian citizenship to Vladimir Bukovsky who was living in the UK. According to the Foreign Ministry, the previous passport had been issued to the writer “without any grounds”.