Russia's Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev speaks during his interview with national television channels in Moscow December 7, 2012. REUTERS/Dmitry Astakhov/RIA Novosti/Pool
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia is making it easier for native Russian speakers who have lived in Russia or the former Soviet Union to get citizenship, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday, a signal to the West that Moscow is not backing down over Ukraine.
Not mentioning Ukraine by name, Medvedev told a government meeting that Russia would simplify the citizenship procedures for some foreigners - a measure to show defiance of Western demands for Moscow to back down over its neighbour, a country many Russians see as an extension of their own.
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