The deadline for the exchange of old Soviet passports was extended until July 1, but only for citizens of the Russian Federation

The deadline for the exchange of Soviet passports of the 1974 model for new Russian passports was extended until July 1, 2004. Earlier, the completion of the passport reform was called December 31, 2003. It was also reported that from January 1, 2004 , owners of old Soviet passports would be fined .

"Due to the minor residue of Russian citizens who did not have time to exchange their passports in a timely manner in connection with the location of long -term business trips, including abroad, being on treatment, living in hard -to -reach places, the Ministry of Internal Affairs came out to extend the deadline for the exchange of old Soviet passports until July 1, 2004," said on Wednesday at a press conference in the central office Interfax Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation Alexander Chekalin.

He added that this applies only to Russian citizens.

Speaking of the results of passport reform, the deputy minister said that by December 31, 2003, 125.8 million Russian passports were issued in Russia. Including 90.7 million were exchanged for the old passports of a citizen of the USSR, 20.7 million were issued to young persons in connection with the achievement of passport age, 4.7 million to persons who have lost their passport, and 1.1 million to persons acquired Russian citizenship.

At the same time, the exchange of passports also had law enforcement, Cecalin noted. In particular, during the passport reform, 77 thousand criminals were detected on the federal wanted list and another 124 thousand people who are wanted on other grounds. Among them are about 60 thousand - alien debtors, 3.5 thousand - state debtors, almost 60 thousand - other categories of those wanted.

According to the deputy minister, 4 billion 421 million rubles of budget funds were allocated for passport reform. These finances were spent on the creation of a technical base, form products, transportation costs. At the same time, 2 billion 69 million rubles have already been compensated to the state, Chekalin emphasized.

During the exchange of passports, 6.1 thousand fake documents certifying individuals were identified, the deputy minister added.