Putin offers citizenship to foreigners who fight for Russia against Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin approved an order that will grant citizenship to foreigners who fight against Ukraine. 

According to the decree, foreign nationals who serve with the Russian military for at least one year will be eligible to receive citizenship for both themselves and their families.

The Kremlin extended the offer to "foreign citizens who signed a [one-year] contract with the Russian Armed Forces or military formations or who are undergoing military service during the special military operation [in Ukraine]," according to a translation from the Moscow Times.

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Citizenship benefits would extend to those who served, their spouses, parents and children.

The decisions show foreign support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine has become an increasing priority for the government.

At least 315,000 Russian troops have been killed or injured so far in the war in Ukraine, amounting to nearly 90% of its personnel when the conflict started, a December 2023 report claimed. 

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The statistic was highlighted in a declassified U.S. intelligence report that found Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 with 360,000 troops, a source familiar with the document told Reuters at the time.

The report also said Russia started the war with 3,100 tanks but has since lost 2,200 of them, and after backfilling its army with T-62 tanks produced in the 1970s, it only has about 1,300 tanks on the battlefield, according to Reuters, citing the source.

Global intelligence reports have shown extensive efforts by Russian agents to field combatants in the conflict from foreign countries.

The Cuban government said last year it had uncovered a human trafficking network being operated in Russia with the goal of recruiting citizens to participate in the war against Ukraine.

Cuba's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement at the time that the country's ministry of the interior uncovered the operation, which it says has been dismantled.

The country's foreign affairs ministry said the country has a "firm and clear historical position against mercenarism, and it plays an active role in the United Nations in rejection of the aforementioned practice, being the author of several of the initiatives approved in that forum."

Fox News Digital's Adam Sabes and Greg Norman contributed to this report.