Russia could have the highest number of immigrants in the world, more than Europe or the United States, according to figures quoted by President Vladimir Putin yesterday.
The number of immigrants in Russia “may have reached 15 million”, the vast majority of them illegal, Putin said at a meeting with Russia’s parliamentary speaker Boris Gryzlov, Russian news agencies reported.
In the European Union, Putin said, the figure for illegal immigrants is eight million people and in the United States the number is 10-12 million people.
Russia has a population of around 140 million people.
Putin said foreigners should be encouraged to work in Russia, particularly in sectors where there are labour shortages, but the interests of Russian citizens “should be fully taken into account”.
Many immigrants to Russia, mostly from poor former Soviet republics in the Caucasus and Central Asia, have been attacked by Russian racist groups and are widely resented among ordinary Russians.
“We should formulate our position clearly: there is no place for extremism on the political scene in Russia,” Putin said, in an apparent reference to the use of racist and ultra-nationalist slogans.
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