You're reading: Almost 500,000 Crimean residents submit documents to get Russian passports

 The Russian Federal Migration Service is issuing over 15,000 passports daily to Crimean and Simferopol residents and almost 500,000 local residents have submitted documents to get passports, acting assistance chief of the Federal Migration Service Crimean office Yana Smolova said.

 “As of today, we have taken over 480,000 applications [for Russian passports] from Crimean residents. Over 16,000 passports were issued in the Crimean Federal District in the past 24 hours,” Smolova told Interfax on April 25.

Migration Service experts have issued over 300,000 passports to Crimean residents, Federal Migration Service Chief Konstantin Romodanovsky said on April 23. According to the assessment of the Federal Migration Service, 1.5 to 1.7 million people need Russian passports in Crimea.