MOSCOW. May 27 (Interfax) - Russia has seen a 15% spike in the number of crimes committed by foreigners in the first three months of this year, the press service for the Russian Interior Ministry's Main Migration Directorate said.
"Foreign citizens and stateless persons committed 12,400 crimes in Russia in the first quarter, which is 15.3% more than in January-March 2024 and results from a substantial increase in the proactive prevention of drug trafficking offenses (up 1.6 times, from 2,673 to 4,220)," the department said in its statistical report for January-March 2025.
There was a 25.2% decline in the number of foreigners committing drug-related crimes (from 1,210 to 905), and a 3.3% decline in the overall number of criminal migrants (from 8,100 to 7,800), the directorate said.
The number of cases of heavy bodily harm decreased by 13.6% in the reporting period, versus an 18.9% decline in crimes against property, it said.
Crimes committed by foreign citizens amounted to 5.3% of all crimes in the first quarter of the year, the directorate said.
Also in the first quarter, the police prevented 55.6% more violations of immigration rules (from 3,800 to 5,900) and 72.1% more violations of the deadlines for submission of patent applications (from 9,700 to 16,700), it said.
The police intensified work to bar foreigners, who fail to comply with the law, from entering Russia. "In regard to this category of persons, the police filed 60,400 motions for the denial of admission to Russia, which is 4,200 more than in the respective period of last year. In all, 1,300 foreign citizens were deported, 9.9% more than last year (1,200)," the directorate said.
The number of temporary residence permits issued to foreigners has decreased (-36.2%, 8,565) in addition to a decline in the issuance of residence permits (-31.6%, 41,726) against the backdrop of efforts to detect abuse, it said.