MOSCOW, September 17. /TASS/. About 500 people in the Kharkov Region have managed to get Russian passports. The database of those who have applied for a passport has been taken to Russia, the head of the military-civilian administration, Vitaly Ganchev, said in an interview with the RT television channel, uploaded to his website on Saturday.
"About half a thousand people [received Russian passports]. Many more have applied for passports, but had no time to get them. Our employees who accepted the applications took this data base to Russia," he said.
Ganchev noted that the military-civilian administration continued to issue passports already in Russia, so that "these people can finally obtain Russian citizenship."
As the press service of Ukraine’s Ministry for the Reintegration of Uncontrolled Territories has said, a bill has been developed in Kiev for introducing criminal punishment for obtaining Russian citizenship. Getting a Russian passport, according to the bill, is justified only if the person who has received it is going to return to Ukraine through Russia and third countries. Earlier, Aleksey Arestovich, an adviser to the Ukrainian presidential office, said that those Ukrainians who had received Russian citizenship would be charged with treason.