The Russian State Duma has rejected the bill "On the passport of Russian Federation citizens," which provided for, among other things, the return of the "Nationality" field to passports.

The bill was introduced to the Duma in December 2012 by a group of CPRF (Communist Party) deputies. It recommended that the "Nationality" field should be able to be filled out if a citizen should so wish.

The bill proposed that all language in the passport, in accordance with regional regulations, could be reproduced in the national language of the passport holder. The required fields in the bill include registration stamps for residence, marriage and divorce, having children under 14, military service and passport issuance. The fields, which the bill's authors thought should be able to be translated and included, are nationality, Personal Tax Reference Number, blood type, and Rh factor.

The authors of the bill note that at present, the legal status of the basic identifying document of a Russian citizen is defined by a law from 1997, which is why the law must be renewed. The Profile Committee on Constitutional Legislation and Nation Building of the Russian State Duma, all the same recommended that the lower house of the Russian Parliament reject the bill, noting that similar initiatives had already been introduced to the State Duma multiple times. Members of the committee stated that the Communists' bill contained a large amount of legal and technical deficiencies.

According to a poll conducted by media center FINUGOR on the social network "VKontakte" more than 68 percent of voters support the return of the "nationality" field to passports of Russian Citizens, 17.1 percent did not approve, while 14.8 did not take a position. 257 people took part in the survey.