Illegal Migrants Number 10 Million, Official Says
About 10 million foreigners are living illegally in Russia, evading taxes and civic duties such as military service, a top police official said.
Deputy Interior Minister Alexander Chekalin said a census planned for October 2002 and the replacement of old Soviet identification papers with new Russian ones--a process scheduled to be completed by 2005--should help “bring most immigrants out of the shadows,” the Interfax news agency reported.
Many of the illegal migrants are from other former Soviet republics, drawn to Russia by job opportunities.
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