MOSCOW, April 08, /ITAR-TASS/. A total of 151 passport issuance offices have been opened in Crimea, a spokesman for the Russian Federal Migration Service told Itar-Tass on Tuesday.

According to the service’s statistics, more than 145,000 Crimean residents have already filed applications for Russian passports. About 80,000 Russian passports have already been issued.

Earlier on Tuesday, CrimeaInform reported, citing head of the passport department of the Russian Federal Migration Service Fedor Karpovets, that more than 13,000 Russian passports were issued daily in Crimea. Moreover, he said, migration agencies receive more than 15,000 applications for Russian citizenship a day.

Whereas at the initial stage Russia’s migration agencies were able to receive a mere 1,500 applications, “today they receive more than 15,000 applications a day from citizens who want and have a legal right to be granted a Russian passport,” he said.

At the same time, Karpovets said that about 300 Crimean residents had opted to keep Ukrainian citizenship and refuse from Russian passports.