There are currently more than 4.3 million illegal immigrants living and working in Russia, a Federal Migration Service official said Monday.
Anatoly Fomenko, the deputy head of the agency, said those violating immigration law were mostly young people lacking fluency in Russian, RIA Novosti reported.
Most of the illegal immigrants are citizens of CIS countries who took advantage of visa-free entry, he said.
"The illegal immigrants are primarily comprised of those who legally arrived from CIS countries but overstayed the 90-day limit. Currently, there are more than 4.3 million of such people," Fomenko said during a Federation Council seminar, according to RIA Novosti.
Since the beginning of the year, more than 13.5 million foreigners have visited Russia, Fomenko said, noting that there are currently 11.8 million foreigners on Russian soil. It was unclear whether that number included illegal immigrants. (MT)
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