Number of foreigners entering Russia down 5%, excluding citizens of Ukraine - Romodanovsky
MOSCOW. March 4 (Interfax) - The number of foreigners who have entered Russia since the beginning of this year, not including citizens of Ukraine, is down 5%, Russian Federal Migration Service Director Konstantin Romodanovsky told Interfax on Wednesday.
"March, April and May are a period of mass labor migrant entry. However, we are now seeing an increase in departures by only 5%, and that's including the Ukrainians who enter the country," he said.
"Departures of foreign citizens from Russia has increased by 12%. In absolute figures, a balance has been achieved: the number of people who come in is equal to the number of those who leave. Without citizens of Ukraine, foreign entry is down 5%," Romodanovsky said.
On February 27, Federal Migration Service First Deputy Director Yekaterina Yegorova told Interfax some 300,000 Ukrainians had been granted temporary asylum or refugee status in Russia.
Some one million citizens of Ukraine who have left Ukraine because of the conflict in southeastern Ukraine are now in Russia, Yegorova said.
