Police arrested thousands of migrants across Russia in operations during New Year’s Eve celebrations. Many of them will be deported, BTA reported.
About 3,000 migrants are detained in Russia’s second-largest city, St. Petersburg. This happened during checks “for the prevention of crimes”, the RIA Novosti agency reported.
More than 600 of these migrants were in Russia, having various violations of migration law. This was noted by the Russian news agency, citing an unnamed source from the law enforcement agencies. More than 100 of those arrested will be deported, adds RIA Novosti.
The Sota news site reported that a man from Tajikistan dressed as Santa Claus was among the migrants detained in Moscow.
In the western central city of Chelyabinsk, Russia’s Investigative Committee has opened a court case against three migrants for “hooliganism” against Russian servicemen and their wives.
“A mob of drunken migrants attacked two young men demobilized from the front line. One soldier was hit with a baton,” the Russian Investigative Committee reported in Telegram. And he added: “It is also noted that the migrants insulted the wives of the veterans of the special military operation.”
Russia’s Investigative Committee also said it had opened an investigation into “illegal actions by migrants” in the Sverdlovsk Region in the Ural Mountains, as well as in the Moscow Region.
Many migrants, mostly from neighboring Central Asian countries such as Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia, arrive in Russia to look for work. Russian President Vladimir Putin said in December that there are more than 10 million migrant workers in the country, Reuters notes.
