MOSCOW, July 03. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s Federal Migration Service (FMS) has initiated the introduction of a new status for the persons arriving in the country who have no intention to naturalize in Russia. It is proposed to expand the categories for foreigners residing in the Russian Federation — people with the refugee status, status of temporary asylum or temporary residence permit. The FMS proposes to introduce a “temporary protection institute".

“This status will make it possible to provide assistance to persons in the event of their massive urgent arrival in Russia from a neighboring state, which is happening with Ukrainian citizens,” FMS head Konstantin Romodanovsky said. According to him, 90% of Ukrainian citizens arriving in Russia do not intend to stay in Russia, and they are provisionally called “Ukraine’s displaced people".

“People who get the refugee or temporary asylum status are required to surrender their national passport for the period of stay in Russia. If a person makes the decision to refuse this status, the documents are returned to him and he departs for his home country,” Romodanovsky said. Both statuses give the permission to find employment in Russia without obtaining the work permit, at the same time the refugees can receive pensions, get medical aid andenroll their children in schools.

According to the Russian border guard service, since January 2014, as many as 700,000 Ukrainian citizens have arrived to and left Russia. According to an FMS report since March, a total of 400,000 Ukrainian citizens have arrived to and left Russia. According to the Russian Emergencies Ministry statistics as of late June, about 19,000 people are registered in Russia as refugees, including in the Southern Federal District - 11,300 people, in the Central Federal District - 2,400 people, in the North-Western Federal District - 468 people, and in Crimea - 4,400 people. Russia has created 195 temporary accommodation facilities for 15,868 people. So far, some 9,000 Ukrainian citizens have been accommodated there.

The FMS head also reported the situation with issuing Russian passports to the residents of Crimea. “Nearly 1.5 million applications have been received. We have issued 1.4 million passports", he said.