MOSCOW. Aug 21 (Interfax) - Russia has deported over 2,500 foreigners and denied nearly 77,000 foreigners entry in 2017, the Russian Interior Ministry press service told Interfax on Monday.
"Over 2,500 foreign citizens have been deported for violating the rules of presence in our country, and nearly 77,000 others have been denied entry to Russia," the press service quoted Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev as saying following a meeting of the joint board of the Russian and Kazakh interior ministries in Irkutsk.
"Control over such intensive migration flows requires considerable efforts. To this end, over 200,000 various control procedures have been conducted, and some 21,500 crimes have been solved," Kolokoltsev said.
Over 16 million foreigners and stateless persons enter Russia annually, the Interior Ministry said. In the first half of 2017 alone, 7 million foreigners underwent migration registration procedures, including over half of them in six major regions, it said.
The migration situation in general is under control both in Russia and Kazakhstan, in large part due to to close contacts between the two countries' police forces, he said.
Kolokoltsev proposed substantively discussing measures to improve interaction on the anti-drug track. "In our country, the number of crimes committed under the influence of narcotic drugs has grown fifty percent over the past five years. Every tenth crime today is associated with illegal drug trafficking," he said.
About 330 kilos of narcotic substances were seized in Operation Canal-Western Barrier conducted jointly by Russia and Kazakhstan earlier in 2017, the press service said.