"At present, illegal migration is quite a serious challenge for the CSTO member states. We need to deal with it together, by pooling our efforts and training specialists in the field of combating illegal migration," Aleksei Begun noted.
Thousands of foreigners apply for Belarusian citizenship every year. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 4,075 such applications have already been processed this year. Most of them have been submitted by Ukrainians (2,811). A total of 3,997 applications have been approved.
Aleksei Begun said that the first influx of migrants from Ukraine to Belarus occurred after the conflict in 2014. Then, taking into account the open state border, more than 160,000 citizens of Ukraine arrived in Belarus. According to the expert, some of them later returned home, some moved to third countries and some stayed for permanent residence in Belarus.