PanARMENIAN.Net - Russia is preparing a bill to facilitate the process of granting Russian citizenship to citizens of the Commonwealth of Independent States, including Ukraine, a deputy speaker of Russia's lower house of parliament, Alexander Zhukov said, according to Russian media.

Russian parliament factions, the presidential administration, and the government are looking into the issue, Zhukov said.

Earlier, the head of the center-left Fair Russia party said a bill allowing any Ukrainian citizen Russian citizenship will be submitted to the Lower House in the near future.

“A few days back the LDPR party submitted a bill allowing for a simplified citizenship procedure for Ukrainian citizens of Russian descent. We are lodging an initiative that would allow any Ukrainian who wishes to receive Russian citizenship to do so under a simplified procedure,” Russian media outlets quoted Sergey Mironov as saying.

Russia may mitigate migration policy for Armenian citizens, National Security Council Secretary said earlier.

As Artur Baghdasaryan told journalists, at present, the parties agreed to form interdepartmental working group to study the issue in a shortest possible time, according to Novosti-Armenia.

In early 2014, amendment to the laws on entry and exit from Russia and legal status of foreign citizens in Russia became effective, permitting a 90 day visa-free stay during each period of 180 days. Earlier, Baghdasaryan addressed a message to his Russian counterpart Nikolai Patrushev, expressing hope for Russia to revise Armenia-related visa rules.

As he noted, the first meeting of the working groups has been set for the days to come.

According to REX news agency, Russia and Armenia will revise the 2000 visa-free travel agreement. The envisaged adjustments will stipulate for a stay in Russia for 150 days within every 180 days, factually cancelling the January 1, 2014 rule on temporary stay in Russia.

If enacted, the adjustment will allow the citizens of Armenia to return to Russia in a month after the expiration of a 5-month term.

Earlier, Russia banned entry to 31,5 thous. Armenians as of February 10.

According to migration policy officer at the Russian embassy in Armenia Svetlana Stepanova, the figure includes 23,4 thous. Armenians banned from Russia in 2013 and 8,1 thous. this year.

“170 thous. more are included in the risk group,” Stepanova said. “These are the citizens who’ve exceeded the allowed duration of stay, haven’t received a work permit, and continue living in Russia. Once they cross the border, their entry to Russia will be automatically prohibited,” she added.

According to Stepanova, 464 thous. foreigners were blacklisted by Russian migration authorities, 422 thous. of them CIS citizens. A total of 573 thous. people were on the blacklist as of February 2014.

A total of 670 thous. Armenian citizens traveled to Russia in 2013, up 20% from a year earlier period (540 thous.) The number of Armenian nationals officially employed in Russia grossed 130 thous. in 2013, up 4% from the 2012 data.