Interfax: FMS: Over 3.5 million Ukrainian nationals move to Russia in 2014

MOSCOW. Oct 16 (Interfax) – More than 3.5 million Ukrainian nationals moved to Russia this year, Lilia Arestova, deputy head of the Federal Migration Service (FMS) naturalization department, said at a meeting of the committee for public support to residents of south-eastern Ukraine.

“The FMS is keeping a daily record of arrivals. A total of 3,631,124 Ukrainian nationals moved to the Russian territory in the first nine months of this year,” Arestova stressed.

In her words, over 15,000 refugees have been granted residence permits, 14,360 have been naturalized and 1.146 million Ukrainians have been registered by migration offices.

“Some 219,042 persons have asked for a refugee status or temporary asylum. Temporary asylum was granted to 180,111 Ukrainian citizens,” Arestova said.

She added that the number of foreign citizens asking for a legal status had grown considerably lately. “These are exclusively Ukrainian nationals,” Arestova added.