A woman displays her passport after receiving it during a ceremony to issue the first passports of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic to residents in Donetsk, Ukraine, March 16, 2016. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The United States embassy in Kiev voiced concern on Sunday over Russia’s decision to recognize civil registration documents issued in separatist-held areas of eastern Ukraine, saying that it threatens the Minsk peace process.

The order by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday will enable people from the conflict-hit region to travel, work or study in Russia and drew strong criticism from Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

The move is “alarming and contradicts the agreed goals of the Minsk agreements”, the U.S. embassy in Ukraine said on Sunday via its official twitter account.

Since the February 2015 Minsk peace agreement Ukraine and Russia have been locked in a stalemate periodically broken by fighting that each side has accused the other of instigating.