13 million illegal migrants from CIS countries enter Russia each year

13 million illegal migrants from CIS countries enter Russia each year, said Secretary of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions Galina Strela in a session of the Federation Council yesterday. She added that the statistics came from the Russian Internal Affairs Ministry.

'We deducted those CIS citizens who come to Russia for work or to study, but the remainder enter Russia without concrete goals for example to visit relatives and make up the majority of illegal migrants,' said Strela. She added that on average during the summer months each illegal migrant earns USD 1 thousand. 'Multiply this number by 13 million and you see how much of our worker's pay is being lost abroad,' said Strela. At the same time, she emphasized Russia needs to legalize the entry of working migrants into the country.