All news

Russian interior ministry looking at option of deporting foreign prisoners

About 500 individuals subject to deportation are currently kept in detention facilities in Russia, the ministry says

MOSCOW, March 24. /TASS/. Russia’s interior ministry is looking at options to deport foreigners kept at penitentiary institutions, the ministry’s press center told TASS on Tuesday.

"Bearing in mind transport traffic restriction imposed in a number of countries, the Russian interior ministry, in cooperation with diplomatic and consular missions of foreign states, is looking at possible options to deport individuals kept at Russian penitentiary institutions to the countries of their nationality," it said.

According to the press center, about 500 individuals subject to deportation are currently kept in detention facilities in Russia.

A pneumonia outbreak caused by the COVID-19 virus (previously known as 2019-nCoV) was reported in China’s city of Wuhan, a large trade and industrial center with a population of 12 million, in late December 2019. Cases of the new coronavirus have also been reported from more than 150 countries and territories, including Russia, which by now has 438 cases, with 17 patients having recovered. The World Health Organization says that the novel coronavirus cases across the globe have exceeded 350,000, with about 16,000 deaths. The World Health Organization (WHO) has officially described the situation with the novel coronavirus as a pandemic. On March 23, Russia’s air transport authority imposed more restrictions on flights to 95 countries. Flights to these countries are possible only from Moscow to evacuate Russian nationals.