Moscow 'to cut migrant workers'

Moscow city authorities are planning to reduce the number of migrants working in the Russian capital.

Mayor Yury Luzhkov says the demands for foreign labour should be lowered in favour of "our own workers".

Rights groups argue few Russians would choose to do the difficult, dirty and sometimes dangerous jobs that are often the migrants' main source of work.

The World Bank says that Russia is home to more migrants than any other country except the United States.

Racist violence

Moscow is unrecognisable from the city that was once the capital of world communism.

A boom driven by rising prices for Russia's abundant mineral wealth has made it into a thriving capitalist metropolis.

The growth has created countless new jobs - in both the official and unofficial economies.

Workers from poorer countries have flocked to fill them.

Many of them have come from the former Soviet republics of Central Asia whose citizens do not need entry visas.

Not all of them are welcome. Russia has been dogged by outbreaks of racist violence.

One response from the authorities has been to limit migrants' access to jobs.

Since 1 April, they have been banned from working in markets and other retail outlets.

Now Mayor Luzhkov says there must be greater reductions, starting from next year.

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