You want to be a Russian citizen?  You will need to take an oath of allegiance.

50 residents of Tajikistan took the oath of allegiance to the Russian Federation with a formal ceremony that took place at the Russian Embassy in Dushanbe on December 14.

It was the first ceremony of taking oath of allegiance to the Russian Federation at the Russian Embassy in Dushanbe.

Last year, no fewer than 4,000 or 5,000 residents of Tajikistan obtained the Russian citizenship.

Under the dual citizenship agreement reached between Tajikistan and the Russian Federation in 1996 “each nation recognizes its citizens’ entitlement to obtain citizenship of a second country without being required to relinquish their original citizenship.”

Some sources estimate that between 300,000 and 500,000 Tajiks have obtained Russian citizenship over the past two decades.

Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed the citizenship oath on June 6 and Russia’s lower house (State Duma) of parliament approved an obligatory oath of allegiance for anyone who wants to acquire Russian citizenship on July 12.

According to Russian state-run news agency TASS, the State Duma approved the text written by Pavel Krasheninnikov, head of the State Duma Legislative Committee.  

Below are the oath’s words: 

“I, (full name), hereby accepting citizenship of the Russian Federation, voluntarily and consciously swear an oath to observe the Constitution and laws of the Russian Federation, the rights and freedoms of its citizens; to fulfill the duties of a Russian citizen for the benefit of the state and society; to protect the freedom and independence of the Russian Federation; to be faithful to Russia, and to respect its culture, history and traditions.”