Around 360,000 foreign nationals obtained Russian citizenship in 2019, head of the Russian Interior Ministry's department on migration Valentina Kazakova told Rossiya-24 TV channel, Eurasia Diary reports citing Tass News.

"Since 2013, the number of foreign nationals wishing to obtain Russian citizenship has been growing. Last year, around 270,000 foreign nationals obtained Russian citizenship, but the number today stands at over 360,000, which represents considerable growth," Kazakova said.

There are many Ukrainian nationals among those seeking to obtain Russian citizenship, she noted. "This year, over 130,000 Ukrainian nationals obtained Russian citizenship. Of course, this was faciliatted by the federal law that granted the president powers to determine for humanitarian considerations the groups of people that can obtain Russian citizenship through a simplified procedure," she explained.

"Kazakhstan's nationals come second, followed by Tajikistan's nationals. They are mostly people from the CIS [Commonwealth of Independent States], of course," Kazakova said.