MOSCOW, September 10. /TASS/. About nine million foreign nationals arrive in Russia for various purposes annually, First Deputy Interior Minister Andrey Kikot, who heads the ministry’s Migration Service, said at a meeting with President Vladimir Putin.

"As for annual figures, about nine million foreign citizens come to our country for a variety of purposes. At the moment, the number of foreigners in Russia stands at 6-6.5 million. What does the figure include? Some three million are labor migrants, 1.7 million are their family members, and one million people fall into other categories such as tourism, studies and private trips," he specified.

The first deputy interior minister pointed out that the number of legal labor migrants has tended to grow every year, with the inflow rising from 45% to 50% recently.

Kikot also said that 800,000 foreign nationals had violated Russian laws, including migration legislation. "We take note of them, place them on the register of persons under control and carry out the necessary search operations," he added.