Of the 56 applicants, two thirds were of Russian background, 16% were Ukrainian, 5% Belarusian and Lithuanian, Polish and other ethnicities were also represented. One third of the new citizens have higher education, according to information supplied by the Ministry of Interior.
The latest batch brings the number of people who have gained citizenship via naturalization to 146,832 since 1995. So far this year 472 people have successfully completed the process.
Congratulations to all. If you would like to read about the naturalization process from the inside, our editor recently wrote a four-part series about his ow experience as a candidate.