Russia prolongs lax migration rules for Ukrainian citizens

Russia is prolonging the operation of lax migration rules for Ukrainians, the Federal Migration Service has said.

Earlier, there were plans for cancelling them as of August 1.
"It is expedient to prolong the preferences for the Ukrainian citizens who have arrived in Russia from the war-ravaged territories of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions of Ukraine," the Federal Migration Service said. Its spokesman explained that all other Ukrainian citizens were free to stay for another 90 days in Russia without leaving its territory and to obtain work permits.

According to FMS statistics, a total of 2.642 million Ukrainians are currently in Russian territory, including half of them (1.038 million) from Ukraine’s southeastern regions. More than 570 forced migrants have already been granted temporary asylum and temporary residence permits, which allows them to stay in Russia for more than a year and get jobs without applying for work permits. Another 100,000 used the opportunities offered under the government-financed program for the resettlement of compatriots.

Russia eased migration rules for Ukrainian citizens last year after the surge of internal political tensions in the neighbouring country and the flare-up of the armed conflict in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions to accommodate the flow of refugees. The regional authorities of Russia’s regions bordering Ukraine and the Emergencies Ministry had to urgently deploy temporary refugee camps. Currently there are 369 of these accommodating 21,000 forced migrants from Ukraine.

As before, Ukrainian citizens are free to enter Russia upon the presentation of their internal passports.

"There are no plans to demand arriving Ukrainians should carry foreign travel passports," the FMS said.