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Over 5,400 illegal migrants banished from Moscow in 2011

Moscow faces a problem with illegal migrants who squat in uninhibited houses and give bribes to local housing officials to let them do that

MOSCOW, November 27 (Itar-Tass) —— As many as 5,400 illegal migrants have been expelled from Moscow, and 9,000 have been banned to enter Russia since the beginning of the current year, prosecutor of the city of Moscow Sergei Kudeneyev said in an interview with the Rossiskaya Gazeta daily.

He admitted that Moscow faces a problem with illegal migrants who squat in uninhibited houses and give bribes to local housing officials to let them do that. “There is such a problem. It is very difficult but possible to fight against. Moreover, it is necessary to do,” he said. “According to Moscow’s administration of the Federal Migration Service, more than 5,400 illegal migrants were banished in January-October on charges of breaching migration laws. Almost 9,000 foreigners were banned from entering Russia. About 3,000 officials were brought to administrative responsibility for letting illegal migrant squat in empty houses, a total of 41,000 cases on administrative offense were opened.”

“Now this works has become of a routine, systematic character, unlike the way it was done before,” he noted. Apart from that, Russian laws have been amended to provide for “very serious material liability for legal entities for employing illegal labour force: a penalty of up to 800,000 roubles for each illegal worker,” he added.

According to Kudeneyev, criminal statistics say that foreign citizens are behind each fifth murder in Moscow, each second rape, each third robbery, and each fifth theft. “But I would like to somewhat reassure Muscovites: the overall number of crimes committed by foreigners in 2011 has reduced by 30 percent on the last year. As for extremist crimes, the number os such crimes has shrunk three-fold against the previous year: 29 against 87,” he added.