48 illegal Chinese workers detained in Russia

MOSCOW - Forty-eight illegal Chinese workers have been detained in Volgograd, a city in southern Russia, the Chinese Embassy in Moscow confirmed Wednesday.

Sources from the Chinese Embassy in Russia said that the Chinese workers were among a group of illegal labor workers detained when local police in Volgograd conducted a raid against foreign laborers with no legal documents for residency.

They were said to have come to Volgograd with tourist visas. Some of them even didn't carry ID with them as their passports were seized by intermediate organizations upon their arrivals in Russia.

Russian authorities have promised to provide the detained Chinese workers with necessary aid for subsistence and fully cooperate with the Chinese Embassy before repatriating them to China.