documents is much shorter. At the same time, the media reports that the authorities of the self-declared DPR and LPR intend to deprive HIV-infected persons of access to the application procedure for Russian citizenship.38 The group of HIV carriers is not the only population group of these territories that has restricted access to the new procedure. In a special clarification, “the head of the Migration Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Donetsk People’s Republic” repeatedly stressed that applications for Russian citizenship would only be accepted from people who have “the passport of a citizen of the DPR” and that if these people are granted Russian citizenship and passports, they will not lose their “DPR passport.”39 It should be noted in relation to Order No. 183 (concerning applicants located on the territories of the self-proclaimed DPR and LPR) that the term “simplified procedure” and the reference to articles 13 and 14 of the Law on RF Citizenship are hardly applicable, since this term has a very specific meaning in the citizenship law, where it signifies a three-step procedure for becoming an RF citizen (temporary residence permit (one year) – permanent residence permit – citizenship). This differs from the “general procedure” only in terms of a shorter required period of residence (five years under the general procedure, immediately under the simplified procedure), while for a number of categories (voluntary resettlers, Word War II veterans, and others) it also signifies a loosening of some conditions (for example, under the simplified procedure, participants in the resettlement program do not have to prove their knowledge of the Russian language or their income source). The generalized and simplified procedures for acquiring Russian citizenship are described in articles 13 and 14 of the Law on RF Citizenship. Order No. 183 gives residents of the self-declared DPR and LPR the right to apply for citizenship right away by bypassing the temporary and permanent residence stages. This path to citizenship is described in a completely different section of the law (Chapter VIII.I) that was added in 2012 specifically to resolve the problems of stateless persons who are former Soviet citizens and who, until certain dates in 2002 (the time when amendments were made to the law on citizenship), were on Russian territory but did not obtain citizenship following the established procedure. Thus, if the letter of the law is followed, residents of the self-proclaimed DPR and LPR who apply for Russian citizenship under the “simplified procedure” (Order No. 183 cites Article 14 of the Law on RF Citizenship) must complete all three stages stipulated by this “simplified procedure,” albeit within a short period of 38 “An Expensive Russian Passport. Part of Donbass is Left Without Russian Citizenship,” May 5, 2019, https://www.svoboda.org/a/29918808.html 39 Clarification on the website of the “Migration Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Donetsk People’s Republic” (video clip), https://mvddnr.ru/news/poryadokpolucheniya-grazhdanstva-rf-zhitelyami-dnr 22