TRANSIT MIGRATION AND TRANSIT COUNTRIES IN GLOBAL, EUROPEAN AND REGIONAL CONTEXT (IMPLICATIONS FOR RUSSIA)

The 2015-16 refugee crisis in the EU provoked by the conflicts in the Middle East and some other countries, has clearly highlighted the global problems of forced migration. The security system of the EU that was developed over two decades proved deficient under the massive influx of migrants from Asia and Africa that used Balkans as transit route. Over the course of one year, the European Union received more than 1 million migrants. Russia is one of the top three nations receiving migrants, mainly from CIS countries. It is also neighbour to six EU countries and therefore has to face transit migrants from different countries that move to the EU through and from Russia. Russia also induce transit migration from the CIS countries by changing migration legislation. The article seeks to analyse the influence of new global, regional and local conditions on illegal transit migration to-, through- and from Russia based on information of official statistics on transit migrants, the Belorussian State Border Guard Committee and Border Guard Service of Russia and Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA).