A young woman opens her office door and is immediately assailed with questions from 40 people trying to crowd in: Crimeans clamouring -- some willingly, others obliged -- to obtain Russian passports.
The passport office worker hands out forms with a list of required documents: a birth certificate, the old Ukrainian passport, a photo and 200 Russian rubles (four euros, $5) -- Crimea's new second currency.
The woman in her office in the regional capital Simferopol tries to answer questions from the petitioners, many of whom are carrying Russian flags, Russian ribbons and even a Russian football top.
Crimeans have been given a month to expressly state that they want to stay Ukrainian -- or they will automatically become Russian citizens, although they still have to obtain passports.
Many thousands of employees in the state sector are facing a painful dilemma -- become Russian or lose your job.
The tumultuous changeover has come in just a month since the ousting of pro-Kremlin president Viktor Yanukovych in Kiev and Russia's capture of Crimea.
But Konstantin, 40, who wore a Sylvester Stallone T-shirt, said he was pro-Russian and had been waiting for hours for a new nationality.
"I've had enough of my Ukrainian passport after 22 years," he said, smiling.
Next to him, Natalya, 29, said: "For the moment, the Ukrainian passport is still valid so we will have both for a while".
"But afterwards it's likely nobody will recognise it any more," she said, explaining that Ukrainian law does not allow for people to have two passports.
In another city neighbourhood, the passport office is in a small pink house surrounded by dilapidated grey buildings.
Inside, around 50 mainly young people are impatiently waiting their turn.
Among them is Dmitry, who has always lived in Simferopol and used to consider himself a "Crimean" above all.
"But now I am Russian," he said, proudly.
With his new passport, he said he would be "stronger" and have "more rights".
"It's re-unification of the Russian civilisation" and the end of "Ukrainian occupation", he said.
Asked what he would be doing with his old passport, he answered: "In the bin!"
- 'Difficult Choice' -
In a military housing complex south of Simferopol next to the Perevalne base, a group of women await the arrival of an official from Russia's Federal Migration Service in order to register.
They have drawn up an informal list of people asking for passports -- 53 names, some of them entire families.
"I want one!" said one of the women, who came to ask whether she would be allowed to keep her Ukrainian passport.
What happens to those who want to stay in Crimea without changing nationality is still an open question -- like Anastasya, a student of Polish, Russian and Ukrainian who wants to be an interpreter.
She said she faces a "difficult choice".
"Before these events, I was Crimean first and foremost but now I feel Ukrainian. I don't want to be Russian!" she said.
"The people of the Maidan have shown that they had ideas, but the people of Crimea did not follow them. I don't want to be part of this," she said.
That contrasted with the glee of Crimea's pro-Moscow prime minister Sergei Aksyonov who took to Twitter to announce on Thursday: "I obtained a Russian passport".
He added: "Don't worry" with a smile emoticon.
A young woman opens her office door and is immediately assailed with questions from 40 people trying to crowd in: Crimeans clamouring — some willingly, others obliged — to obtain Russian passports.
The passport office worker hands out forms with a list of required documents: a birth certificate, the old Ukrainian passport, a photo and 200 Russian rubles (four euros, $5) — Crimea’s new second currency.
The woman in her office in the regional capital Simferopol tries to answer questions from the petitioners, many of whom are carrying Russian flags, Russian ribbons and even a Russian football top.
Crimeans have been given a month to expressly state that they want to stay Ukrainian — or they will automatically become Russian citizens, although they still have to obtain passports.
Many thousands of employees in the state sector are facing a painful dilemma — become Russian or lose your job.
The tumultuous changeover has come in just a month since the ousting of pro-Kremlin president Viktor Yanukovych in Kiev and Russia’s capture of Crimea.
But Konstantin, 40, who wore a Sylvester Stallone T-shirt, said he was pro-Russian and had been waiting for hours for a new nationality.
“I’ve had enough of my Ukrainian passport after 22 years,” he said, smiling.
Next to him, Natalya, 29, said: “For the moment, the Ukrainian passport is still valid so we will have both for a while”.
“But afterwards it’s likely nobody will recognise it any more,” she said, explaining that Ukrainian law does not allow for people to have two passports.
In another city neighbourhood, the passport office is in a small pink house surrounded by dilapidated grey buildings.
Inside, around 50 mainly young people are impatiently waiting their turn.
Among them is Dmitry, who has always lived in Simferopol and used to consider himself a “Crimean” above all.
“But now I am Russian,” he said, proudly.
With his new passport, he said he would be “stronger” and have “more rights”.
“It’s re-unification of the Russian civilisation” and the end of “Ukrainian occupation”, he said.
Asked what he would be doing with his old passport, he answered: “In the bin!”
– ‘Difficult Choice’ –
In a military housing complex south of Simferopol next to the Perevalne base, a group of women await the arrival of an official from Russia’s Federal Migration Service in order to register.
They have drawn up an informal list of people asking for passports — 53 names, some of them entire families.
“I want one!” said one of the women, who came to ask whether she would be allowed to keep her Ukrainian passport.
What happens to those who want to stay in Crimea without changing nationality is still an open question — like Anastasya, a student of Polish, Russian and Ukrainian who wants to be an interpreter.
She said she faces a “difficult choice”.
“Before these events, I was Crimean first and foremost but now I feel Ukrainian. I don’t want to be Russian!” she said.
“The people of the Maidan have shown that they had ideas, but the people of Crimea did not follow them. I don’t want to be part of this,” she said.
That contrasted with the glee of Crimea’s pro-Moscow prime minister Sergei Aksyonov who took to Twitter to announce on Thursday: “I obtained a Russian passport”.
He added: “Don’t worry” with a smile emoticon.
