Russia tackles World Cup visitors who won't leave

By The Associated Press January 25, 2019 at 6:47am

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia has a problem with World Cup guests who just won’t leave.

More than six months after France beat Croatia in the final, more than 5,000 foreigners who arrived on a visa-free system for fans last year have yet to leave the country, a senior policeman told Russian media on Friday.

Andrei Kayushin, who heads the migration department of the Interior Ministry, said just over 12,000 were left when their “Fan ID” permit cards expired at the end of 2018, but security services swiftly reduced that number to 5,500. That’s out of a total of 650,000 who originally received the permits.

“In the main, they were all law-abiding and left the country in their own time,” Kayushin said in comments reported by the Tass state news agency. Of the remaining 5,000 or so, “we are undertaking operations to deport them and I hope that they will all be deported by March 30.”

Kayushin didn’t specify what the remaining World Cup visitors were believed to be doing.

While some fans came for the football and fell in love with the host nation, there were also cases of people using the Fan ID system to enter Russia in the hope of then crossing the border illegally into European Union countries. A few dozen others reportedly wanted to file for asylum in Russia.

Two days before the final, around 60 Nigerian men camped outside their country’s embassy in Moscow asking for help returning home. A Russian anti-trafficking group said the men were promised work by an agency in Nigeria and bought fan documents only to arrive and find the promises were false.

___

More AP sports: https://apnews.com/tag/apf-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

The Western Journal has not reviewed this Associated Press story prior to publication. Therefore, it may contain editorial bias or may in some other way not meet our normal editorial standards. It is provided to our readers as a service from The Western Journal.

Submit a Correction →

We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.

Tags:

WJ Wire

The Associated Press

SummaryMore Biographical InformationRecent PostsContact

The Associated Press is an independent, not-for-profit news cooperative headquartered in New York City. Their teams in over 100 countries tell the world’s stories, from breaking news to investigative reporting. They provide content and services to help engage audiences worldwide, working with companies of all types, from broadcasters to brands. Photo credit: @AP on Twitter

@AP

Facebook

The Associated Press was the first private sector organization in the U.S. to operate on a national scale. Over the past 170 years, they have been first to inform the world of many of history's most important moments, from the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the bombing of Pearl Harbor to the fall of the Shah of Iran and the death of Pope John Paul.

Today, they operate in 263 locations in more than 100 countries relaying breaking news, covering war and conflict and producing enterprise reports that tell the world's stories.

Location

New York City