MOSCOW, January 15 (RAPSI) - Over 60,000 foreigners were deported from Russia last year, according to Federal Migration Service official Dmitry Demidenko.

“Over 63,000 foreign citizens have been deported, and almost 1,500 were explelled out of Russia and about half a million have been denied entry to the country,” he said.

In Russian immigration law, deportation is an administrative measure used as liability for individuals who violated the migration norms, or entered the country illegaly. Expulsion is used in the cases where the individual in question has broken the law, criminal or otherwise while in Russia.

Demidenko did not provide any statistics for 2012 as a comparison. In total, some 17.5 million foreigners came to Russia over the past year. It is not clear how many remained in the country.

Demidenko specified that nationals of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan are those most frequently banned from entering Russia. The main reasons for deportation or expulsion include overstay and multiple administrative offenses. Press Secretary of the Federal Migration Service Zalina Kornilova added that violators are automatically banned from entry.

According to the country's migration service, some 14 million foreign citizens arrive in Russia every year, about one-third with the goal of finding jobs. Most of those labor migrants come from neighboring former Soviet republics which do not require visas to enter Russia.