The Federal Migration Service has accelerated the issuance of Russian passports to residents of Crimea, Federal Migration Service spokeswoman Zalina Kornilova told Interfax on Saturday.
“Residents of Crimea can get Russian passports at all of the Federal Migration Service’s departments,” she said.
“More than a thousand passports have been readied for residents of Crimea,” another spokesperson told Interfax on Friday.
“People massively apply for Russian passports. Several hundred were issued on Thursday,” a source in Crimea’s law enforcement services told Interfax on Friday.
Federal Migration Service chief Konstantin Romodanovsky told Interfax on Wednesday that the issuance of Russian passports had started in Crimea.
“I think, the process will be picking up pace with every passing day,” Romodanovsky said.
Most of Crimea’s residents said in Sunday’s referendum that they want Crimea to be joined to Russia. The Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian parliament, on Friday ratified the Treaty on Crimea’s Accession to Russia and on the Formation of New Entities in the Russian Federation.
