Oleksandr Turchynov on the issuance of Russian passports in the Donbas: This is nothing but a deliberate escalation of aggression against our state

President Putin's decree on a simplified procedure for obtaining Russian citizenship for residents of the occupied areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions is nothing but a deliberate escalation of aggression against our state and pressure on Ukraine's leadership. This was stated by Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksandr Turchynov in a comment.

According to him, by issuing Russian passports to residents of the occupied territories of the Donbas "Putin establishes legal conditions for the official use of the Russian armed forces against Ukraine". "This is due to that Russian legislation allows the use of armed forces to protect Russian citizens outside the Russian territory", - the NSDC Secretary noticed.

"There can be only one response to this - strengthening our defense potential, and the due international response to the criminal actions of the Kremlin along with ramping up the sanctions pressure on the aggressor country", - the NSDC Secretary stressed.