Russian Bloodright Citizenship?? Putin Floats Long Overdue Idea to Grant Citizenship to Diaspora

We resume our coverage of Direct Line with Vladimir Putin. Today, the president talked to refugees from Donbass. For four years, of 120,000 Donetsk's and Luhansk's citizens have been living in Bataysk, Rostov Oblast. They told Vladimir Putin that their main problem is getting the documents for Russian citizenship. Vladimir Putin appealed to Russian agencies to simplify the procedure. Maria Gladkikh reports on the refugees' reaction to the claim. Immediately after our live broadcast of Direct Line with the president, the entire administration of Bataysk and journalists appeared here in literally 10 minutes. I hope that the question the citizens asked will start a new page in their story because they've told us about the difficulties which they've faced. But first things first. We're now in Rostov Oblast, in the small town of Bataysk. Rostov Oblast is on the border with Ukraine, that's why there are so many refugees from Luhansk and Donetsk. We met with the people who turned to us with this problem. There are a lot of them. They told us their stories which are really terrifying. About 3-4 years ago with small children in their arms, women had to cross the border while under fire. They had to flee somehow just to get blue sky above. "Four years ago, I moved from Donetsk, because my home was five kilometers from the airport at the frontline. It was very dangerous to stay there. This is our family photo. All in all, we had to flee". "When we crossed the border during the fighting, my child was 1.5 years old and he sustained severe psychological trauma. Now he needs special treatment. Now he is... underdeveloped. And his eyesight is fading. That's why at the moment I can't go back there with my sick child and expose him to psychological trauma once more. We want to be useful here, but we've faced a lot of problems with the official registration. Firstly, the law 90 days law. Because we'll have to go for 90 days there. But there are still fighting going on". President Putin: "I have a deep belief that we should liberalize... everything connected to acquiring Russian citizenship. It makes both humanitarian and economic sense. This is all about the people, regardless of their nationality or religion, but foremost this is all about the people, who consider themselves related by blood to the Russian world, who speak Russian, who want to work in our country, who have the relevant competence. That's why, undoubtedly, there should be proper measures taken in this field to take into account the interests of Russian citizens living in certain regions and to consider the labor-market situation". At the beginning of the live broadcast and before Direct Line with the president, I saw tears of despair in their eyes. But at the end, when the cameras went off, they were tears of joy. Maria Gladkikh, Oleg Makarov, Oleg Shavyrin, Rostov Oblast, Bataysk, Vesti.