Russia's police have detained thousands of migrants across the country in New Year's Eve raids with scores of them facing deportation, Russian media repors said on Monday.
About 3,000 migrants were detained in Russia's second-largest city of St. Petersburg during checks “to prevent crime,” Russia's RIA state-run news agency reported.
“As it turned out, more than 600 of the migrants have been in Russia with various violations of migration legislation,” RIA cited an unnamed law enforcement agency source as saying.
More than 100 people faced deportation, RIA added.
St. Petersburg’s news website Fontanka reported on January1 that police carried out Sunday night's mass round-up of migrants near subway stations, as well as a popular New Year’s Eve celebration spot in central St. Petersburg.
Russia's SOTA online news outlet said a man from Tajikistan who was dressed as a Santa Claus was among migrants detained in Moscow.
In the Russian city of Chelyabinsk, Russia's top investigative organ, the Investigative Committee, said it was opening a criminal case against three migrants for an “act of hooliganism” against Russian servicemen and their wives.
“A crowd of drunken migrants attacked two young men demobilized from the front line, one soldier was hit with a baton,” the Committee said on the Telegram messaging app.
“It is also noted that the migrants insulted the wives of veterans of the special military operation.”
The Committee said it also launched an investigation into “illegal actions of migrants” in the Sverdlovsk oblast and in the Moscow oblast.
Many migrants predominantly from neighboring Central Asian countries such as Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan come to Russia in search of work.
Last year saw widespread and regular reports of police in cities across Russia rounding up migrant workers who recently received Russian citizenship but failed to complete their compulsory military registration.
President Vladimir Putin said in December that Russia has more than 10 million labor migrants. “This is not an easy problem,” Putin said during his annual press conference.
