MOSCOW, Nov. 6 (JTA) – The upper house of Russia’s Parliament has sent a letter to Russian President Boris Yeltsin requesting changes to the new format of Russian identity cards. Among other things, the legislators asked that a nationality listing be made optional. Russia has halted printing of the new identity cards, which were first introduced Oct. 1. At that time, Russian officials said the new identity cards would no longer include a declaration of nationality. The reference to nationality was dropped after complaints that it contributed to ethnic discrimination against non-Russians. Jews were among those who suffered most from the necessity to include nationality on their papers.
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