Russian President Vladimir Putin hosts a meeting in Moscow on April 27, 2023. (Photo: Reuters)

The decree, which was reported by Russian news agencies on Friday, covers four Ukrainian regions that Russia has unilaterally claimed as its own and partially controls: Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. The decree sets out ways that Ukrainian citizens or those holding passports issued by Russia-backed breakaway republics, and who live in the four regions, can start the process of becoming Russian citizens or legalize their status with the Russian authorities.

But it also says that anyone who does not take such action by July 1, 2024, will be regarded as a foreign citizen, something that will leave them at risk of being deported from territory that Moscow considers part of Russia. The decree also allows the deportation of people from the four regions who are deemed a threat to national security or take part in unauthorized meetings.