MOSCOW - Fuad, an illegal migrant from Azerbaijan, is thinking of going home after five years` work as a loader and brick-carrier in Moscow`s booming shadow economy.

He tells of forced labor, bribes paid to policemen and beatings while in custody. His last employer, a Moscow warehouse, simply refused to pay him the 4,000 roubles he was owed for a month`s work as a loader.

"What can you do? The warehouse guards had guns and I didn`t even have the right documents. If I had called the police, they would have arrested me," the 26-year-old said.

"Here you are nothing, you don`t have any rights, you are like a slave," he said in Russian with a strong Azeri accent.

Millions of people have flocked to Moscow and other affluent Russian cities since the fall of the Soviet Union, in search of work and cash to help support their families back home. They come from all over Russia and former Soviet territories, where incomes are far below those of Moscow.

Many face a harsh reception as second-class citizens and grim working conditions in the shadow of Moscow`s glitz -- but it is estimated that they manage to funnel $10 billion a year back home to their dependents.

Just 10 percent of Russia`s 5 million-7 million migrant workers are in the country legally, experts say. Off the record, officials put the total at nearer 10 million.

President Vladimir Putin has welcomed the extra muscle that migrant workers bring to the economy, easing the effects of Russia`s demographic decline that economists fear could stunt growth


Reuters
sections: Society, Economics, Region News
areas: Central region