Russian Interior Ministry reports more passports issued this year than in any nine-month period since 2018

According to the Russian Interior Ministry, almost 3.9 million foreign passports were issued between January and September 2022, TASS reported on Monday. That’s the largest number of foreign passports issued in three subsequent quarters since 2018.

In the first three quarters of 2019, more than 3.7 million foreign passports were issued, while in 2020 and 2021, when pandemic restrictions were in place, only 2.2 million and 2.9 million passports were issued, respectively.

In the first nine months of 2018, the ministry issued 4.2 million passports.

On September 21, Vladimir Putin announced mobilization in Russia. Between the announcement and early October, according to Forbes Russia, at least 600,000–700,000 people fled Russia. The Kremlin denied the report.

There’s no available public data on how many Russians have left the country since the start of 2022.