Ukraine to punish dual citizenship

President Petro Poroshenko highlighted that those could lose their Ukrainian citizenship who cross the border with the passport of another country or take part in the elections of another state. In fact, he submitted a bill on Friday and asked for urgency in the parliament regarding the issue – reported nepszava.hu. Zakarpattya Online, Ukrajinszka Pravda (UP), and Hungarian karpatalja.ma gave a detailed analysis on the bill which, of course, concerns Hungarians living in Subcarpathia.

Illegal but not sanctioned

In fact, multiple citizenships are forbidden in Ukraine. However, nobody took the regulation too seriously, since it was never sanctioned. Furthermore,

the Ukrainian political and business elite is full of members that have at least one another citizenship

apart from the Ukrainian (mostly a Russian one).

Currently, President Poroshenko would like to amend the act on citizenship. According to his new bill submitted on Friday, those who exercise their rights provided by another citizenship – e.g. those who take part in another country’s elections – would lose their Ukrainian citizenship. Ukraine’s authorities will collect information regarding the issue from the other country’s institutions and local governments.

Furthermore, crossing the border with a foreign passport would also result in the loss of the Ukrainian citizenship, if border control or other public bodies registered it.