MOSCOW. Oct 6 (Interfax-AVN) - Over 99 percent of professional military servicemen and their families got civil passports as of October 1, 2003, the press service of the Defense Ministry told Interfax-Military News Agency Monday.
"Within the State Passportization Program, 99.51 percent of professional military servicemen and their families got civil passports as of October 1, 2003," he said.
He also said that 98 percent of Russian servicemen serving in CIS countries, and their families, have got special service foreign passports.
He added that about 6,000 servicemen and their relatives got Russian citizenship, although they had not had documents identifying them as Russian subjects.
Those who have not got the passport, he went on, should apply for it to the local police department, since Soviet passports will become invalid from January 1, 2004, and the military identification document will lose its passport-equal status.
The State Passportization Program will end on January 1, 2004.