Over 20,000 foreigners detained in Russia for crime

Over the first eight months of this year the police have detained over 20,000 foreigners on various charges, said Head of the Russian Federal Migration Service (FMS) Vladimir Kuznetsov speaking at a Tuesday briefing. He said the detainees were accused of participating in 26,000 various crimes. He made it clear that over 19,000 detainees were citizens of the CIS.

He also pointed out that quite a few of those who entered Russia illegally had committed crimes in their home countries. That's why one of the spheres in which the Federal Migration Service cooperates with other Interior Ministry departments is the identification and detention of the criminals wanted by the interstate police.

This year the criminal police in assistance with the Federal Migration Service and the National Central INTERPOL Bureau detained nine internationally wanted foreign citizens on the territory of the Russian Federation. They were citizens of Ukraine, Belorussia, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, China and Vietnam. According to the data provided by the law enforcement bodies of the aforementioned countries the detainees are linked to 16 murders.

Kuznetsov also said that some of the illegal migrants pass the Russian territory en route for Chechnya to join bandit formations. According to Kuznetsov, the bulk of the flow in this direction is from Central Asia, as well as from Azerbaijan and Georgia. Migrants make use of "the transparency of borders" and forged passports.