RIA Novosti: Almost a million Ukrainian refugees want to stay in Russia – migration service

(RIA Novosti – July 15, 2015)

About 900,000 Ukrainians have contacted Russia’s Federal Migration Service since the start of the conflict in southeast Ukraine requesting status allowing them to reside there permanently, RIA Novosti (part of the state-owned International News Agency Rossiya Segodnya) reported on 15 July.

According to the FMS, just over a million citizens of southeast Ukraine have arrived in Russia since April 2014. It said 20,980 people are in 369 temporary refugee reception centres including 6,777 children, while 552,000 refugees are housed in the private sector.

Two empty tented refugee camps are ready for more refugees in the Matveyevo-Kuganskiy district in Rostov Region and the city of Novoshakhtinsk if necessary, the FMS said, privately-owned Interfax news agency reported.

“Taking into account the experience of last year, when thousands of Ukrainian citizens came to us every day, we understand that there must be somewhere to house, feed and keep people warm and so on,” Rostov Region Deputy Governor Sergey Bondarev told the media, Interfax said.