MOSCOW, September 29. /ITAR-TASS/. Around 20,000 refugees, who arrived in Russia since an armed conflict began in the southeast of Ukraine, have joined Russia's state program for voluntary resettlement of compatriots, Head of the Federal Migration Service (FMS) Konstantin Romodanovsky told ITAR-TASS.

A total of 53 Russian regions take part in the program, offering jobs and lodgings to the refugees from Ukraine; around 20,000 refugees have joined the program already, Romodanovsky said.

The refugees who were granted temporary asylum may join the state program and afterwards, get the Russian citizenship on easier terms, Romodanovsky said.

At present, a refugee is granted a temporary asylum in Russia within three days' time; granting citizenship takes no longer than eight months at present, Romodanovsky said.