President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree facilitating the procedure for obtaining Russian citizenship for foreign highly qualified specialists, says Komsomolskaya Pravda

According to the document, the period of seniority required to apply for citizenship of the Russian Federation is reduced from three years to a year.

The new rules reportedly apply to the professions included to the special list drawn up by the government.

The list includes a variety of professions - doctors and other health care professionals, engineers, information security experts, workers and other specialties. 

The document is aimed at attracting highly-qualified specialists to Russia from abroad in those areas that are necessary for the Russian economy. In addition, it helps speed up the process of granting Russian citizenship to a large number of Russian-speaking specialists from the countries of the former Soviet Union.