The St. Petersburg police have instituted criminal proceedings against a local resident and a group of individuals, whose identities are being determined, on suspicion of organizing illegal migration (Article 322.1 (2) of Russia’s Penal Code). This was reported by the Main Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia for St. Petersburg on November 27.
Having created a criminal group, the suspect reportedly registered more than 21,000 migrants at a fictitious address. He was detained by the police with the assistance of the OMON "Baltika" (special police unit) of the Main Directorate of the Russian Guard for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Oblast.
"The investigation has established that the criminal, together with his accomplices, no later than August 30, 2023, developed a criminal plan under which they, for a financial reward, would fictively register foreign nationals who arrived in St. Petersburg at a place of residence and issue them patents. To carry out this criminal intent, the suspects found a legal entity that does not actually carry out any business activity, in order to enter its details into the migration notification form," the agency's statement reads.
The suspects then found foreign nationals who had arrived in St. Petersburg, fictively registered them for migration purposes, listing the details of the aforementioned organization as the accepting party, and also arranged for them to receive patents. They received monetary compensation for providing these illegal services.
It is noteworthy that in October, Russia tightened the penalties for organizing illegal migration. It is now classified as a particularly serious crime, punishable by imprisonment for 8 to 15 years and a fine of 3 to 5 million rubles.
The punishment for fictitious registration at a place of residence and for the false registration of a foreign citizen has also been toughened to up to 5 years in prison.
In early November, the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs reported that as a result of Operation "Illegal-2024," more than 4,000 criminal cases related to the organization of illegal migration had been opened.
