Yulia Yurina was denied Ukrainian citizenship: what the Ministry of Culture is doing.

According to ТСН: The former soloist of the YUKO band, singer Yulia Yurina, openly shared her experience of the difficult and lengthy process of obtaining Ukrainian citizenship.

The artist, who was born in Russia, has been living in Ukraine since 2012 and actively promotes its culture. Despite this, the struggle for Ukrainian citizenship has been ongoing for several years. The singer consistently demonstrates her pro-Ukrainian stance: she has actively promoted Ukrainian folklore, performed in Ukrainian, and publicly burned her Russian passport. Yulia noted that she has all the necessary documents for obtaining a Ukrainian passport.

At the beginning of last year, Yulia was denied by the State Migration Service of Ukraine. The reason lies in the special rules for granting citizenship to Russian citizens during wartime. According to current norms, Russians can obtain Ukrainian citizenship only in certain cases: for significant merits to Ukraine, service in the Armed Forces, National Guard, or State Special Transport Service, as well as if they have underage children entitled to citizenship.

Yulia believes she may belong to the category of persons with special merits for the state. However, this requires an official submission from the relevant ministry, in her case - the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine.

“In order to prove that I am important for Ukraine, some ministry has to vouch for me. In my case, it's the Ministry of Culture. I wrote an official letter there over a year ago, asking them to make a submission to the SMS. After six months, I received only an interim response,”

— the singer told in an interview.

In despair, the artist tried to speed up the process through people's deputies, hoping for their official inquiries. However, according to her, even this has not yielded results - the issue continues to be postponed, and responses are lost in bureaucratic labyrinths.

“They wrote to me that my issue is being handled by 'interested authorities' and that I would be informed later. Since then, nothing new. I have contacted several deputies asking them to submit an inquiry on my behalf to the Ministry of Culture. Some of them promised me they would do it. If the request comes from a deputy, it cannot be ignored and must be given an official response. The last time I asked for this to be done was in December. The previous request was made 3-4 months ago. And still silence. I was given the numbers of various officials from the Ministry of Culture. They constantly promised to call the next day. So my current status of obtaining citizenship looks like 'call tomorrow',”

— Yulina added bitterly.

Recall that recently actress Rimma Zyubina shared about her son serving in the Armed Forces and why he was mobilized only on the second attempt.

The process of obtaining citizenship for many Ukrainians and, in particular, for people of Russian descent, has become particularly complicated in wartime. Many people face bureaucratic difficulties that are not easy to overcome. Yulia Yurina's case illustrates broader challenges that artists face when wishing to be part of Ukrainian society and highlights the importance of support from the state and relevant structures.