To obtain Russian citizenship, a criminal record certificate will be required.

      Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the necessity of providing a certificate of the presence or absence of a criminal record for obtaining Russian citizenship. This is reported by "RIA Novosti." Changes are being made to the Regulations on the procedure for considering issues of Russian citizenship. The document must be issued in accordance with the norms of foreign law no earlier than three months before the date of submission of the application for Russian citizenship. To obtain it, one must contact the competent authority of the country of which the applicant is a citizen, or the competent authority of the country that issued the applicant, who is a stateless person, a document certifying the identity of the stateless person.