Illegal Migrants Increasingly Use Russia For Transit To EU - Russian Security Council

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st November, 2021) An increasing number of illegal migrants use Russia as a transit country to enter the European Union, Russian Security Council deputy secretary Alexander Grebenkin said Sunday.

Grebenkin in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta said that the issue of illegal migration from foreign countries remains high on Moscow's agenda.

"The majority of them are citizens of the Central Asian republics, Ukraine and Moldova, who come to Russia for work. But now we have also observed an increase in migrant flows from the Near and middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia.

They use our country as a transit country in order to get to the EU in search of better living conditions," Grebenkin said.

Every year, more than 20,000 foreign citizens are detained for attempting to illegally cross the Russian border, while over 6,000 migrants are detained when crossing the border outside checkpoints, according to the official. In 2020-2021, the law enforcement agencies blocked activities of 182 organizers of illegal migration caravans, and this year alone 22,400 foreign citizens banned from entering Russia were stopped at the border, Grebenkin added.