The authorities in Grozny, the capital of Russia’s North Caucasus republic of Chechnya, will begin the mass deportation of illegal migrants, a source in City Hall said on Friday.
“Local authorities together with police will carry out raids to establish the exact number of migrants living on the territory of Grozny … to start the deportation of the illegal migrants from Russia,” the source said.
The source said that all the deported migrants would be banned from further entry to Chechnya.
Authorities sat thousands of illegal workers from former Soviet republics, including Tajikistan, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan, are in Grozny, which is currently seeing a construction boom.
The move comes the same day as Moscow threatened to expel some 200 Tajik migrants in response to the jailing by a Tajik court of Russian pilot Vladimir Sadovnichy for smuggling and border violations.