Russia's Putin to combat illegal migration

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin proposed on Thursday an array of robust measures, including stiff laws, to deal with illegal migration, RIA Novosti reports.

He has called for the expulsion and bans on migration law-breakers of five to ten years or longer to re-enter Russia, legal proceedings against the owners of "rubber homes", where migrants register illegally, and criminal proceedings for those who take on illegal migrants at work and organize flop-houses.

Current administrative penalties for such violations are “purely symbolic” and therefore ineffective, he said.

“The migration service is powerless here,” he also said, adding that criminal penalties were needed.

Punitive measures, however, should be backed up by a new-look migration policy, Putin said.