At least 400,000 residents of the temporarily occupied parts of Luhansk and Donetsk regions received Russian passports, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine Oleksiy Reznikov said.

"The statistics are constantly changing, they say one thing, we check and get another number. But there are at least 400,000 [people who received passports of the Russian Federation], it is true," the minister said in an interview with the Ukrayinska Pravda ezine, published on Thursday.

Reznikov said that at the same time, those who receive Russian passports in Donetsk and Luhansk regions do not have a permanent place of residence in the Russian Federation.

"The Russians, even in the negotiations in TCG (Trilateral Contact Group), in the Normandy format, everyone says - this is the ORDLO of Ukraine, Donetsk-Luhansk is Ukraine. [...]People who have received passports of the Russian Federation, they have no rights in the Russian Federation. If one arrives in Russia tomorrow with this passport, he will be kicked out. …Except for the top Russia-occupation fighters, those who work for the occupation 'authorities.' They received registration, we saw the passports of those who came to talks in the TCG," Reznikov said.