MOSCOW, December 19. /TASS/. The number of Ukrainians residing in Russia may now exceed those remaining in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested at the combined Direct Line Q&A session and year-end press conference.

"It appears that as many Ukrainians are residing in Russia as in Ukraine, if not even more. I am not kidding - this is entirely possible. I am talking about the people in the newly incorporated territories, in Crimea. And those who moved to our country, these are millions of individuals. And overall, we have approximately the same number of Ukrainians as in Ukraine," the Russian leader noted. "By the way, we welcome this - of course, these are individuals of our culture, they are essentially part of our nation," he added.

Earlier, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said that it was wrong to classify all Ukrainian residents as Ukrainians and divide the peoples inhabiting Russia and Ukraine.