MOSCOW, February 28 (RAPSI) – The State Duma can be encouraged to simplify the procedure for admitting new constituent members to Russia in view of the dramatic developments in Ukraine, Kommersant newspaper writes citing its sources.

Earlier, LDPR member Ilya Drozdov submitted a bill to the State Duma to allow Russians with Ukrainian citizenship to apply for Russian citizenship through a fast-track procedure.

The newspaper writes that under existing law a country or part of it can only become a part of Russia “by an agreement between the Russian Federation and the said foreign state,” and that such a decision must be formalized through an international treaty.  “This proposal would limit the procedure to a simple expression of public will, for example, a referendum,” Kommersant writes.

On February 25 a group of Crimean residents started an open-ended protest rally at the parliament building. They demand that the republican parliament refuse to recognize the new Ukrainian leadership, which has come to power through public unrest and bloody clashes in Kiev, and hold a referendum to choose the development path for the Crimea.

The Crimean parliament has scheduled a referendum for May 25 on expanding the autonomous republic’s authority. The majority of the population on the southern Ukrainian peninsula is ethnic Russian. Crimea’s capital, Sevastopol, is also the home base of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.