Two original Russian-language acts of 4 October 2022. The federal constitutional law (111 pages, including the annexed treaty) purports to admit the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic into the Russian Federation as a new constituent entity. The one-page presidential decree, issued the same day under article 8 of the law, appoints Denis Pushilin acting Head of the new entity. Parallel laws Nos. 6-FKZ, 7-FKZ and 8-FKZ were adopted for the Luhansk People's Republic, Zaporizhzhia Oblast and Kherson Oblast (see DOC-155). Ukraine, the UN General Assembly, the EU and the US do not recognise the annexation.
Law No. 5-FKZ is the domestic Russian instrument that converts military occupation into claimed sovereignty. Beyond declaring the territory part of Russia, it sets the terms on which the population is recoded: article 5 provides that residents "acquire the citizenship of the Russian Federation as a result of recognition", and that a person who files a declaration of not wishing to hold Ukrainian citizenship is treated as a Russian citizen without it. Article 8 gives the President the power to appoint the acting head of the new entity, exercised the same day in Decree No. 705. Article 12 recognises civil-status documents issued before annexation, which is why Ukrainian birth and marriage certificates from before 30 September 2022 remain valid in Russian eyes while later Ukrainian documents do not. The law has since been amended, notably by Law No. 4-FKZ of 15 December 2025, which inserted article 21.1 vesting "ownerless" housing in the occupation authorities (see DOC-160). It is the foundation on which passportisation, property reallocation and the Zemsky relocation programmes rest.
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Law No. 5-FKZ: structure
The law approves the treaty of 30 September 2022 between the Russian Federation and the "Donetsk People's Republic", declares the entity a new constituent republic of the Russian Federation, fixes its borders by reference to the borders claimed by the DPR, and sets a transition period to 1 January 2026 for the integration of its economic, financial, credit and legal systems.
Article 5: citizenship by recognition
Citizens of Ukraine and stateless persons permanently resident in the territory on the date of admission are recognised as citizens of the Russian Federation, subject to taking the oath. A resident may within one month declare a wish to retain another citizenship; a declaration of not wishing to hold Ukrainian citizenship leads to recognition as a Russian citizen without Ukrainian citizenship.
Article 8: the acting head
Pending the formation of the new entity's own bodies, the President of the Russian Federation appoints an acting Head. Decree No. 705 of 4 October 2022 appoints Denis Pushilin.
Article 12: documents
Documents issued by Ukrainian state and municipal bodies and by the DPR before the date of admission remain valid on the territory without time limit or confirmation, unless otherwise provided by Russian law. Documents issued by Ukraine after that date fall outside the guarantee.
Decree No. 705
A single operative paragraph appointing Pushilin acting Head of the Donetsk People's Republic pending the election of a Head, with entry into force on signature.
Analytical note
The law is the legal hinge between occupation and settlement. Citizenship by recognition makes the resident population Russian on paper; article 8 places the occupation administration under presidential appointment; and the recognition of pre-annexation documents, combined with the non-recognition of later Ukrainian ones, produces the administrative pressure to take a Russian passport that TOT Insights research on passportisation documents.