VORONEZH. March 27 (Interfax-AVN) - Servicemen of Russia's western regional border guard department detained four Nigerians and five Vietnamese when they attempted to illegally cross the Ukrainian-Russian border on Tuesday, a spokesman for the department headquarters told Interfax-Military News Agency.
"Ninety-nine illegal migrants from Afghanistan, Vietnam, India, Iraq, China, Madagascar, Nigeria, Sri Lanka and other countries have been detained in the department's area of responsibility this year," the spokesman said.
"The flow of illegal migrants from Ukraine already poses a serious threat to Russian regions, especially those on the border, where the number of crimes involving illegal migrants has increased lately," the spokesman stressed.
According to him, "in most cases violations are committed by groups of foreigners, who are taken to the border by representatives of Ukrainian and Russian criminal gangs that control this kind of illegal business."
The department's border guards detained 629 foreigners attempting to cross the border illegally in 2001.