The State Duma (Russia’s lower chamber of parliament) yesterday approved in all three readings a bill that obliges naturalized Russian citizens to go through military registration.

According to the bill, naturalized citizens who fail to register will be deprived of their Russian passports.

The bill now must be approved by the parliament's upper chamber, the Federation Council, and signed by the president.

It is to be noted that police raids on labor migrants from Central Asia have increased across Russia since January this year.  In some cases, detained labor migrants have been forcibly brought to military enlistment centers where they were forced to sign contracts for deployment in Ukraine.  

Meanwhile, according to data from the Interior Ministry of the Russian Federation, 173,634 Tajik nationals received Russian citizenship in 2022, which is 69,953 people more compared to 2021.  In 2021, 103,681 Tajiks received Russian citizenship.