The law does not recognize, but also does not prohibit

The problem of dual citizenship is chronic for Ukraine. From time to time reports about holders of dual citizenship appear on the news, especially among the deputies. However, no mechanisms for combating or at least counteracting this phenomenon have been developed in Ukraine since it proclaimed its independence. Besides, the unresolved issue of dual citizenship in the country gives reasons to those, who work against the interests of Ukraine, to use this problem to their benefit.

Recently, it was reported that the Supreme Administrative Court declared the deportation of the first Crimean President Yurii Mieshkov from Ukraine illegal. As you know, two years ago in July 2011, a criminal case was opened against Mieshkov for separatist statements he made. He wanted to initiate a campaign to restore former Crimean constitution of 1992, which guaranteed the Crimea almost confederative relations with Ukraine, even though it stated that the Crimea was a part of Ukraine, but it would build its relations with the central authorities on a negotiable basis.

The Supreme Administrative Court of Ukraine (SACU) in its decision refers to the Art. 25 of the Constitution of Ukraine, according to which a citizen of Ukraine cannot be expelled or extradited, as well as the Art. 3 of the Protocol 4 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which states that no one shall be expelled, by means either of an individual or of a collective measure, from the territory of the State of which he is a national.

“That’s true, in the past Mieshkov was a citizen of Ukraine, but after a scandalous and shameful flight from the Crimea to Moscow by plane of the Black Sea Fleet in 1992 he lost his ties with Ukraine, and due to the acquisition of Russian citizenship he lost his Ukrainian one. The Court had to consider this fact,” said Ali KHAMZIN, Head of the International Department of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, in his interview to The Day.

“As you know, dual citizenship is prohibited in Ukraine. It is just not clear why the authorities and immigration service, as well as courts, prosecutors, and Interior Ministry are not fighting this phenomenon since it is obvious that it undermines the foundations of the Ukrainian statehood. And the fact that many deputies are holders of dual citizenship is considered normal,” Khamzin continued. “It would be nice if this decision of the SACU became the reason for police to reinstate those provisions of the law prohibiting dual citizenship to all residents of Ukraine.”

In fact, the state now has no leverage to respond to the actions of such offenders and is unable to either locate or respond to appearance of the new holders of dual citizenship. “In Ukraine, the institute of citizenship is legally regulated by the statutory wording of the Law on Citizenship of Ukraine from January 18, 2001 driven by the need to harmonize it with the norms of the European Convention on Nationality, which was ratified by Ukraine on July 1, 2003 (except for Chapter VII relating to military obligations in cases of multiple nationality),” Svitlana MITRIAIEVA, Director of the regional branch of the National Institute for Strategic Studies (NISS) in Uzhhorod, Honored Worker of Science of Ukraine, and Myroslava LENDEL, Director of the Research Institute of Central Europe Uzhhorod National University, Doctor of Political Science, commented to The Day. “Despite the fact that this document recorded the principle of ‘single citizenship,’ it is missing the norm of inadmissibility of cases of multiple citizenship. According to the legislation of Ukraine, if its citizen acquired citizenship of (was naturalized by) another country, then in legal relations with Ukraine, the person is recognized as a citizen of Ukraine only. Thus, presently, according to the legislation of Ukraine dual citizenship is not prohibited, but also is not recognized: if a Ukrainian citizen acquired any other citizenship, Ukrainian laws are applied to him the way they do to all other Ukrainian citizens.”

Olha AKULOVA, Master of Law, editor of Vash Pravoznavets (Your Lawyer) magazine in her comment for The Day in 2011 said that “one of the reasons for loss of citizenship of Ukraine is voluntary acquisition of the citizenship of another state.” She continued: “However, the law does not impose either the duty or the period during which a citizen of Ukraine, in case of acquisition of citizenship of another country, shall inform the authorities of Ukraine about the change of citizenship. Therefore, the immigration service needs to look for facts of acquisition of another citizenship among the population on their own. But neither the Criminal Code, nor the Code of Administrative Offences contains an article on responsibility for dual citizenship or failure to note the authorities about its acquisition.”

Thus, the rule on inadmissibility of dual citizenship in Ukraine is recorded, but, in fact, the sanctions for its violation have not been provided. Therefore, it is not surprising that many influential people, including officials and MPs use their professional authority and influence and manage to acquire passports of several countries at a time. Ensuring a safe plan B in case of possible prosecution has long been a fashion in higher echelons of power. Several months ago the leader of Party Freedom Oleh Tiahnybok said that he knows of nearly 20 members of the current parliament, who have dual citizenship.

Ali Khamzin is convinced that “SACU went on a leash of those gentlemen, who want to use Mieshkov to destabilize the situation in Ukraine, especially in the period before the signing of the Association Agreement with the EU, which is being strongly undermined by Moscow anyway.” “I think that soon we will witness a large-scale provocation against Ukraine with Mieshkov, and, if so, the SACU prepared the ground for this…” summed up Khamzin.

Experts agree with Khamzin and express confidence that in many situations the practice of dual citizenship could threaten the national security of Ukraine. Because, firstly, the number of dual citizenship holders is growing, and, secondly, the citizenship of another country does not only mean having another passport, but also a specific list of duties before that country for the owner of the document.

Experts suggest that the potentially dangerous situation should be solved with a reform of national legislation based on international legal practice and stress that all innovations must serve the interests of Ukraine. First of all, it is suggested that the law-enforcement agencies should check the legality of obtaining Ukrainian citizenship and analyze patterns of person’s activity on behalf of another country. As an example they name the use of the elements of the relevant practice regarding former servicemen of the Black Sea Fleet, when it turned out that many of them got their passports illegitimately.

Ukrainemust protect itself from the spread of potential danger of the unrecognized practice of holding dual citizenship and also run the mechanisms of imposing punishment, prevention measures, and possible interference with the work of those, who use their status of dual citizen for anti-Ukrainian, anti-state activities.

COMMENTARIES

“DUAL CITIZENSHIP IS PROHIBITED BUT THERE IS A LARGE CASTE OF PEOPLE, WHO EVADE THIS BAN”

Volodymyr PRYTULA, political expert, Simferopol:

“By itself, the institution of dual citizenship is not bad or harmful, it is freely used in world practice. There are countries that use it, but these are mostly countries with strong political and state structure, and they simply earn money on it. Ukraine doesn’t earn anything on that, but only looses, and its political structure is still rather weak, that’s why dual citizenship poses a threat and Ukrainian politicians and officials are well aware of this. But the thing is that it is the officials who use this mechanism the most. We remember that the Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko had several passports and was a citizen of several other states. It is also known that many of the Ukrainian MPs have citizenship of other countries. This happens because in the present situation another passport allows them to hide from justice in the event of difficulties in dealing with law-enforcement system, etc. And this also is a threat to the state, since such officials often do not feel the responsibility to the society and don’t work for the good of their country, but rather for their own benefit or the benefit of another country, and this creates a major issue. It turns out that dual citizenship is formally prohibited in Ukraine, but there is a large caste of people, who evade this ban and use it for their own benefit.

“I think that over time Ukraine will allow dual citizenship, but, as it is practiced in other countries, introduction of such right must be accompanied by a number of restrictions, so that people with dual citizenship, if they really need it, would not be able to use it as means for rescue in case of committing a crime. Dual citizens, of course, cannot hold public office, cannot work with state secrets, their participation in the Armed Forces, as well as mechanism of granting pension to them must be regulated too.”

“GRANTING RUSSIAN CITIZENSHIP TO RESIDENTS OF ABKHAZIA AND SOUTH OSSETIA SUGGEST THAT RUSSIA WAS PREPARING FOR INVASION OF GEORGIA”

Nika CHITADZE, political scientist, Tbilisi:

“One of the reasons for the invasion was the fact that Russia begun to grant its citizenship to residents of Abkhazia and former South Ossetia Autonomous Region. Accordingly, this russification of the two historical regions of Georgia later was used for the invasion of Georgia by the forces of the Russian Federation in August 2008. Russia used the factor of ‘protecting Russian citizens’ as one of the reasons for the invasion of Tskhinvali region and Abkhazia territory. Mr. Medvedev said three days ago in an interview with Georgian television that Russia acted in accordance with the Art. 51 of the UN Charter concerning the right to defense. He said that Russia in this case ‘was defending itself,’ no matter how cynical it might seem, while protecting the interests of its citizens who lived in the territory of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, including peacekeepers. Granting Russian citizenship to the local residents of these areas suggests that Russia was preparing for the invasion of Georgia for several years.”