MOSCOW, April 9 (RAPSI) – Increasing migration, open borders and corruption have resulted in large-scale human trafficking, including in Western Europe, the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office said on Wednesday.

Prosecutor General Yury Chaika met with the Prosecutor of Greece’s Supreme Court, Euterpe Koutzamani, in Moscow today. They discussed ways to improve cooperation in the fight against organized crime and human trafficking.

Deputy Prosecutor General Viktor Grin said at the meeting that, according to the International Organization for Migration, tens of thousands of women go to Western Europe every year to work as prostitutes. Many young girls and sometimes boys become victims of sex trafficking.

“Among the reasons for the frightful scale of human trafficking are open borders and growing interstate migration, inadequate migration legislation and corrupt officials, including in the destination countries,” Viktor Grin said, quoted by the Prosecutor General’s Office.

The Russian Criminal Code defines “human trafficking” as the trade in humans and other transactions for exploitation purposes (recruiting, transportation, transferring and harboring). The longest sentences are stipulated for crimes that result in death or are committed by a criminal group and range between eight and 15 years.