Ukraine's leading English-language newspaper since 1995

Over 10 million foreign nationals arrived in Russia at the start of the year in over 15 million border crossings. Of the 5 million migrants residing in Russia, 4 million work in violation of the law, said Federal Migration Service head Konstantin Romodanovsky.

"About 5 million foreign citizens work in Russia - 1 million legally and 4 million 'in the shadows,'" Romodanovsky told Prime Minister Vladimir Putin

The 4 million are foreign citizens, "who are in Russia legally, but work in violation of the law," he said.

Over 10 million foreign nationals arrived in Russia at the start of the year in over 15 million border crossings, he said.

There are almost 1.5 million citizens of Ukraine in Russia, 1.2 million citizens of Uzbekistan and almost 800,000 citizens of Tajikistan - the largest migrant communities.

On migrants, who are working in violation of the law, Romodanovsky said that the measures being taken help change the situation for the better.

Concerning the online processing of documents, he said that, "73,500 people have applied and over 25,000 documents have been prepared, practically without the participation of the migration service staff.

Contact is only direct when the documents are handed over to the applicants, he said.