Russia blows up illegal system to facilitate migration from Africa to the EU

MOSCOW, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) — Russia's domestic intelligence service FSB has dismantled a criminal network that facilitated illegal migration from Africa to the European Union, it said in a statement on Thursday.

The FSB stated that it had suppressed the illegal activities of a criminal interregional group specialising in organising the entry and transit of persons from the African continent through Russian territory to the countries of the European Union in return for financial compensation.

The criminal group, consisting of Ukrainian, Nigerian and Russian citizens, used sham marriages and false parenthood declarations to obtain temporary and permanent residence permits, as well as private visas for long-term stays in Russia.

The group's profits have amounted to at least 60 million rubles (about $651,000) since 2021, the FSB said.

The leader of the group and five of its members have now been arrested and ongoing operational investigations are identifying other accomplices involved in the criminal plot, it said.