KALININGRAD. Oct 22 (Interfax-AVN) - Introduction of visa controls on borders of Russia's western enclave of Kaliningrad will complicate penetration of unwanted people into the region, Lieutenant General Vladislav Prokhoda, head of the Kaliningrad regional border guard department, said on Tuesday.
"Introduction of visa controls causes a lot of painful problems. But if the professional aspect alone is taken, if the situation is approached from the point of view of the border guard department, there is a certain profit. Visa controls will seriously complicate the entrance of unwanted people to the Kaliningrad region," Prokhoda told Interfax-Military News Agency.
He said that persons with criminal record and those coming to the region for subsequent illegal migration to the European Union were the unwanted people for the department.
Border guards exposed six channels of illegal migration to Europe in the Kaliningrad region last year, Prokhoda said. The channels were used by citizens of third nations. This year, three cases of this kind have been registered.
Nearly seven million people and about 2.5 million vehicles crossed the borders of the Kaliningrad region from January to September 2002. Border guards detained 1,607 violators and exposed 3,200 people with invalid passports over that period of time.