CHOLPON-ATA( Kyrgyzstan), September 05. /ITAR-TASS/. Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev has declared Friday that citizens of the CIS states account for most of the crimes committed on the territory of Russia.

"In the first half of this year the foreign citizens committed around 24,500 crimes on the territory of Russia; citizens of the CIS accounted for 86% of these crimes," the Russian minister said at conference of Interior ministers of the CIS states being held in Kyrgyzstan.

The minister underlined the importance of consolidated state measures in the field of law enforcement and coordinated efforts for crime prevention. “Prevention of trans-national crime remains one of the most important tasks set forth to the Russian Interior Ministry," Kolokoltsev said.

Kolokoltsev praised a proper level of cooperation between Russian law enforcement bodies and their colleagues from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan “who are making joint efforts to cut short the activity of international terrorist and extremist organizations.”

The Russian minister called on his CIS colleagues to keep under strict control search operations for suspects, wanted for crimes committed on the territory of adjoining states, as well as measures taken to establish the whereabouts of citizens reported missing.

Kolokoltsev praised good results achieved in the first stage of a joint search operation "Rozysk" (search). "More than 4,500 citizens, who escaped from prosecution, have been detained on the Russian territory. The whereabouts of more than 2,200 people reported missing, have been established. The results of the joint operation have confirmed its effectiveness and the need to conduct such operations on a regular basis," he said.

Commenting on the problem of border cooperation, Kolokoltsev said that more close cooperation was necessary, whereas in recent months such contacts had slightly narrowed. The minister praised cooperation between the Russian Interior Ministry and the Interior Ministry of Azerbaijan as a positive example.

Taking part in the conference, held in Cholpon-Ata on September 4-6, are delegations from Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan. No delegation from Ukraine arrived.