More than 40 illegal migrants detected at the border of Vitebsk and Pskov regions

June 24, Vitebsk / Sergey Kochetov - BELTA/. More than 40 illegal migrants were identified during the "Illegal Migrant" operation on the Belarusian-Russian border, conducted jointly by law enforcement agencies of the Pskov and Vitebsk regions in May this year. This was announced to journalists by the head of the Federal Migration Service of Russia (FMS) department for the Pskov region, Alexander Paramonov. He is taking part in a working meeting of the heads of the migration services of the Pskov and Vitebsk regions, which is being held today in Vitebsk, BELTA correspondent reports. Vitebsk and Pskov law enforcement officers conduct such joint operations quarterly. For the Pskov region, which borders the regions of three states and through which more than 2 million people move annually, the problem of illegal migration is of particular importance. In this work, Russian law enforcement officers find constant support and mutual understanding with their Belarusian colleagues. "Issues of interaction in the fight against illegal migration are the main topic of the working meeting, during which the results of joint work will be summarized and plans of action for the near future will be formed," said Alexander Paramonov. According to Tatyana Romashova, head of the citizenship and migration department of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee, one of the pressing issues of interaction between the migration services of the two border regions is providing assistance to citizens in difficult life situations. Currently, more than 20,000 people with residence permits live in the Vitebsk region, of whom over 14,000 are Russian citizens. The high level of interaction between the services of the border regions helps to promptly respond to the requests and wishes of people who, for example, have lost documents, have encountered other problems, including in the sphere of labor migration. In addition, the Vitebsk region has the longest border with the Pskov region (about 250 km), which affects five districts of the Vitebsk region. This explains the increased interest of Vitebsk law enforcement officers in cooperation with their Pskov colleagues in combating illegal migration at the border level, she added. During the working meeting, which will conclude on June 25, it is planned to discuss a set of issues on organizing joint operational and preventive measures aimed at identifying, preventing, and suppressing channels of illegal migration of foreign citizens, as well as to outline measures to increase the effectiveness of border cooperation between the migration services of the Vitebsk and Pskov regions. -0-