More than 64,000 foreign nationals were ordered out of Russia in 2013, a migration official said Wednesday.
Federal Migration Service official Dmitry Demidenko said about 63,000 foreigners had been expelled from the country, an action typically taken following violations of the law. Another 1,300 people were deported, which is usually how Russian authorities deal with individuals violating visa and migration rules.
Demidenko said another 500,000 people were barred from future return to Russia for indefinite periods of time for committing illegalities. Most of those are from the former Soviet states of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, he said.
Millions of migrants from those countries regularly travel to Russia for work.
A total of 17.5 million foreigners visited the country last year, Demidenko said. It was not immediately clear how many of them stayed.
