| 31 March 2008 “More than 2 thousand foreigners having grossly violated the rules of stay in Belarus have been issued expulsion orders, and 780 of them have been expelled under escort”, says Aleksey Begun, 1st deputy head of the citizenship and migration department, Ministry of Interior of Belarus. According to him, overall 220 criminal proceedings have been instituted by bodies of interior during the last year for violations of the rules of foreigners’ stay in and transit across Belarus, and almost 17 thousand foreigners have been held administratively liable for violation of the rules of stay. By representation from bodies of interior and at the requests of public authorities, more than 4,500 foreigners who violated Belarusian legislation are included on the list of persons whose entry into Belarus is prohibited or undesirable. “90% crimes or offenses committed by foreigners in Belarus account for citizens of Russia, Ukraine and Moldova. These include frauds, murders, drugs transit, and illegal business. Illegal transit migrants trying to leave for the EU countries via Belarus actually do not commit crimes”, Aleksey Begun said. | 
