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Russia steps up enforcement on illegal migration offenses — Security Council

According to Alexander Grebenkin, the number of solved criminal acts related to the organization of illegal migration has tripled since 2023

MOSCOW, November 25. /TASS/. The number of uncovered illegal migration offenses increased by 81.4% in 2025, Alexander Grebenkin, Deputy Secretary of Russia’s Security Council told Rossiyskaya Gazeta in an interview.

"It should be noted that the internal affairs bodies have increased their effectiveness in carrying out targeted operational and preventive measures to combat crime in the field of migration. Since 2023, the number of solved criminal acts related to the organization of illegal migration has tripled. This year compared to last year the number of detected crimes rose by 45.6% and cleared such crimes increased by 81.4%," Grebenkin said.

"The effectiveness of administrative practice improved. In particular, over the past 2.5 years, about 7.2 million protocols on administrative offenses have been drawn up against foreign citizens. The number of decisions on administrative expulsion from the country and on non-entry increased by an average of almost a third, and on reducing the period of temporary stay by 25.3%. This year, the number of identified and prosecuted foreign citizens who evaded departure from Russia has increased 2.3 times compared to last year (about 246,000). As a result of the comprehensive measures, the number of foreign citizens staying in Russia illegally has decreased by more than three times over the past five years."

Grebenkin mentioned the formation of a Service for Citizenship and Registration of Foreign Citizens on the basis of the Main Directorate for Migration of the Interior Ministry. According to him, the reform was carried out on the basis of a recent experience gained from the law enforcement activities in the migration sphere.

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