MOSCOW, June 25 (RIA Novosti) - Russia will continue to accept refugees from Ukraine and send humanitarian aid to the residents of southeastern Ukraine until the situation in the region is stabilized, the speaker of the Russian upper house of parliament said Wednesday.
“Russia is sending humanitarian aid and financial support to the residents of southeastern [Ukraine]. This work will continue until the full stabilization of the situation in the southeast,” Valentina Matvienko said after a Federation Council session.
Earlier in the day, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree allocating 240 million rubles (about $7 million) to Rostov Region for accommodation of Ukrainian refugees. The funds are to be used for the maintenance of temporary accommodation centers and the sustenance of Ukrainian citizens coming to Russia.
According to Russia’s Federal Migration Service, more than 400,000 people who chose to flee Ukraine’s violence-torn eastern regions are currently staying in the Russian regions bordering Ukraine, with Russia’s Rostov Region receiving the bulk of the flow of refugees.
About 7,000 people have applied for temporary asylum and refugee status in Russia.
