First you make them citizens, then you have the right to "protect" them, wherever they live, not just Ukraine, but also the Baltic states. Putin hasn't changed his spots -
or his intensions.......
New citizenship shortcut for Russian-speakers of Soviet, Imperial ancestry
President Vladimir Putin has signed into force simpler and faster rules for granting citizenship to people who speak Russian, and have at least one ancestor who was a permanent resident of any state within the borders of the current Russian Federation. The bill on the simplified granting of Russian citizenship becomes valid today Monday, April 21.......
To benefit from the new program, a person must have documented proof that at least one of his or her direct ancestors was a permanent resident of the Soviet Union or the Tsarist Russian Empire who lived on the territory of the current Russian Federation. Another condition is good command of Russian, but a complicated and lengthy exam is replaced with a simpler interview.
While most of the candidates would have to renounce their foreign citizenship to become Russians under the new procedure, exceptions are made in cases when doing this would be legally impossible. The program also can be applied to people without citizenship, which is the case for many ethnic Russians who live in the Baltic states but cannot obtain the citizenship and live under non-citizens status......