MOSCOW, June 19./ITAR-TASS/. The Russian government will provide 240 million roubles in aid to Ukrainian refugees in the southern Rostov region, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday, June 19.

He said the funding was intended for a period of one month but could be extended if need be.

Presidential chief of staff Sergei Ivanov urged other regions to help Rostov in dealing with the refugees, including by offering accommodation for them during winter if the situation in the south-east of Ukraine does not stabilise.

Seventy-nine people, including 35 children, have already arrived in Kabardino-Balkaria. Local residents have prepared sweets for them and the authorities have put them up in one of the best holiday homes.

“We have been given a very warm reception, but my husband and elder daughter are staying at home. She is a medical nurse in a hospital and said she would not go anywhere because her duty was to stay and help people. We have taken only the basic necessities and we hope to go back… if there is no bombing. We hope for that,” said Iirina Neperekutya, who has come to this North Caucasian republic with her younger daughter, Anna.

Nalchik, the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria, is expecting another 400 refugees to come shortly.

Two hundred refugees, mainly children, will go to Kursk from the Rostov region.

The Stavropol Territory is ready to accommodate 650-800 refugees from Ukraine.

 

People willing to help refugees not only with money 

People in the Samara region on the Volga have been raising humanitarian aid for Ukrainian refugees for two days. They are also offering help with the translation of documents to Russian as well as room and board and employment.

The mayor’s office in Yaroslavl, central Russia, urged the residents to help Ukrainian refugees and set up a special telephone line for people to call in to say how many refugees they are ready to receive and for how long.

Fifteen million roubles have been raised in the Tula region to buy medicines and basic necessities for refugees. The aid will be shipped to Ukraine shortly.

 

Ukrainian refugees in no hurry to apply for official status

In Sevastopol, Crimea, only two of 3,000 Ukrainian refugees have applied for the official status of refugee, the local office of the Federal Migration Service (FMS) said. Another 56 people have filed documents for provisional asylum.

“People are still hoping to go back home where they have left all their property,” Oleg Maisak, acting head of the migration control department of the FMS office in Sevastopol, said.

However, almost 600 refugees have applied for the official status in Kaluga, a city south-west of Moscow. Only four have received the status up to date and ten more applications are being processed.

 

Legalisation of Ukrainian refugees

At a meeting with volunteers who are helping Ukrainian refugees in the Rostov region, presidential chief of staff Sergei Ivanov urged Ukrainians to apply for temporary residence permits more actively in order to get health insurance policies and employment.

FMS chief Konstantin Romodanovsky said the number of quotas in the Rostov region (700 now) might be increased, if need be. He also said Ukrainians could apply for participation in the program of volunteer resettlement of compatriots.

“In the future, citizenship will be granted on a fast-track basis. We are realists and understand that citizens of Ukraine will not be able to drop their Ukrainian citizenship. So we will go half-way and receive them without requiring them to confirm that,” he said.

Ivanov suggested creating a special coordinating agency to employ refugees. It will inform them about job opportunities in Russia. He said, however, that their employment could only be voluntary.