MOSCOW, November 21. /TASS/. Russia’s Security Council warns that flows of migrants using Russia for transit to the European Union are increasing.

"There is a tendency toward increasing flows of migrants from the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia, who use Russia as a transit country to reach European Union nations in search of a better life," Deputy Secretary of the Russian Security Council Alexander Grebenkin said in an interview with the Rossiiskaya Gazeta daily.

He noted that "the problem of illegal migration is still pressing" amid the pandemic. "Most of them are citizens of Central Asian republics, Ukraine and Moldova who come to Russia to work," he said.

"More than 20,000 attempts at illegal entry to Russia are stopped at the state border every year. More than 6,000 migrants are detained while crossing the border off checkpoints," he said. "The activities of 182 organizers of illegal migration channels were stopped in 2020-2021. Some 22,400 foreign nationals, who have been banned from entering Russia, were stopped at the border this year alone."

"The number of attempts at trafficking drugs, commodity, strategic raw materials, sanctioned and counterfeit products is not decreasing," he noted.

According to Grebenkin, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), interior and defense ministries, the Federal Customs Service, the National Guard and other agencies are implementing plans of combating terrorism and trans-border crime. "More than 20 special border operations have been conducted at various border sections since 2018," he added.