Over 8,000 Residents of New Territories Apply for Russian Passport Daily, Says Ministry

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Every day, more than 8,000 residents of new Russian regions apply for a Russian passport, following the accession of these territories to Russia, the Ministry of Internal Affairs told Sputnik.

"After the entry into the Russian Federation of new regions, over 8,000 people apply for a passport of a citizen of the Russian Federation every day," the ministry said.

At the same time, since 2019, over 1.4 million Ukrainian citizens have obtained Russian citizenship, according to the ministry data.

Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, after the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics (DPR and LPR) appealed for help in defending themselves against Ukrainian provocations. In response to Russia’s operation, Western countries have rolled out a comprehensive sanctions campaign against Moscow and have been supplying weapons to Ukraine.

A woman casts her ballot during the referendum on the joining of Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republic and Zaporozhye and Kherson regions of Ukraine to Russia

© Sputnik / Pavel Bednyakov

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On September 30, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin and the heads of the DPR and LPR, as well as Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, signed agreements on the accession of these territories to Russia, following referendums that showed that an overwhelming majority of the local population supported becoming part of Russia.

In November of last year, the Russian interior ministry’s Chief of the Main Directorate for Migration, Valentina Kazakova, said that over 80,000 residents of Kherson Region, Zaporozhye Region, DPR and LPR obtained Russian passports after the regions became part of Russia.