MOSCOW, August 06. /ITAR-TASS/. More than 3.3 million migrants are illegally in the Russian territory as they exceeded duration of stay, chief of Federal Migration Service (FMS) Konstantin Romodanovsky said on Wednesday.

A special measure was introduced to ban entrance for such migrants after they leave the Russian territory, he added. Entrance has been closed for almost 420,000 foreigners and people without citizenship this year and 900,000 foreigners from the moment of the measure’s introduction.

Migrants committed 47,000 crimes last year, Prosecutor General Yury Chaika said on Wednesday.

However, migrants who earlier committed crimes were not banned from re-entering the country, he added. Over 2.5 years, prosecutors detected 400 cases of cover-up by the police and more than 500 violations in detection of foreigners who committed crimes in the Russian territory.

The situation was compounded by corruption, Chaika added, with 639 criminal cases started last year.

“Employees of Moscow federal migration service have even started a criminal group that illicitly issued about a hundred passports to illegal migrants,” Chaika said. Thirteen criminal cases were opened.

The official also noted inefficient deportation of illegal migrants by bailiffs in nine regions, which was often due to inadequate police and migration service work.

Russia attracts an increasing number of migrants. According to the FMS, more than 17 million entered the country last year. More than 1,000 flats, where more than 19,000 illegal migrants were formally registered, have been recorded since the beginning of the year.

However, many migrants became involved in shadow business or fell victims to crimes themselves, said First Deputy Prosecutor General Alexander Buxman. According to the Institute of National Strategy, 20% of migrants from Central Asia do not speak Russian at all, while 50% cannot fill in a questionnaire.

The Institute has recorded three main characteristics of migrants since 2000 - cultural backwardness, poor skills and demographic imbalance in the areas of their residence.

“All this poses a high risk of conflicts - both domestic violence and ethnic conflicts,” Buxman said.

Most crimes were committed by foreigners in Moscow, Moscow Region and St. Petersburg, he added. Criminal rate increased by a third in Russia’s far East and Siberia; the total number of convicted foreigners rose 11%