German football player Roman Neustaedter has received the Russian citizenship, according to a decree published on the government website Wednesday.
The decree was signed by the Russian President on May 18.
Born in the Ukraine's Dnipro, 28 year-old Neustaedter is a midfielder for German football club Schalke 04. He moved to Germany together with his father, Soviet top league footballer Pyotr Neustaedter, in the early 1990s.
Neustaedter expressed desire to play in the Russian national squad last year. He has already arrived in Moscow and has joined the national team, the TASS news agency reported.
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