MOSCOW. Dec 16 (Interfax) - Several million foreign citizens, whom the Russian Federal Migration Service refers to the so-called risk group, are in Russia, Federal Migration Service Chief Konstantin Romodanovsky said.
"According to our information, 3.6 million labor migrants, who are referred to the so-called risk group, are in Russia. These people work illegally and have stayed over the time permitted," Romodanovsky said when speaking at a meeting of the committee on defense, constitutional law and social policy at the Federation Council.
This is a big number and unfortunately these people do not behave decently, Romodanovsky said. "They behave the way they are used to in their homeland and this can not but cause negative responses by the local population. Unfortunately, the number of incidents of intolerance grows, which leads to the escalation of interethnic intolerance," he said.
Employees, hiring illegal migrant workers, seriously violate Russian laws and the rights of immigrants and are largely to blame, Romodanovsky said.
As of today, over 420,000 foreign citizens are banned entry to Russia - this figure grows six times year on year, Romodanovsky said. "Over 60,000 have been expelled and deported from Russia, this is twice as high as last year. Fines of over 6 billion rubles have been imposed," he said.