An underground factory for immigrant workers to make clothes in sweatshops has been discovered under a street in Moscow.
The cramped complex, which was home to about 260 migrants, contained dormitories and workshops packed with sewing machines as well as a canteen, a chicken coop, a cinema and casino.
The undocumented workers were arrested during a police raid, with video footage showing the bleak living conditions where there is no natural light.
They were found underneath the former site of the Cherkizovsky market, which was closed down in 2009, reports NBC News.
About 80 of the workers came from former Soviet Republics, such as Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, which have struggled with poverty since the USSR broke up in 1991.
Russia Today reports that 181 of the workers were Vietnamese.
They did not have work documents to allow them to work legally in the country.
About nine million migrants arrive in Russia a year looking for work, according to the Russian authorities.
Charity the Eurasia Foundation says 80 per cent come from the former Soviet satellite territories with open visa conditions. Many send money home to support their families.
They work in low-paid jobs such as building and street cleaning, paid less than Russian nationals, and suffer from poor-quality housing, long working hours and exploitation, with some telling a recent Human Rights Watch report that they had not been paid for their labour.
The 'gastarbeiters' (guest workers) are also targeted for abuse by Russian nationalists and by police raids.
'Migrants are constantly in a state of danger… they are in a constant state of stress,' Svetlana Gannushkina of human rights group Assistance for Citizens told NBC.
'But they are needed and are beneficial to those that keep on exploiting them.'
About seven per cent of Russia's work force is made up of illegal migrant workers, according a report by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development last year.
In March the head of the Russian Federal Migration said the country needed up to six million foreign workers - roughly 300,000 a year - to become citizens to ease the burden of an ageing population and meet the country's targets for economic development.
About 100,000 immigrant workers are thought to be working in construction in the Black Sea resort Sochi, the host city for the 2014 Winter Olympics.
Human Rights Watch reported that workers, such as carpenters and welders, claim they had been cheated out of wages, forced to work 12-hour shifts and seven day weeks, and had their passports and work permits confiscated to coerce them into staying at the sites.
The workers said they were earning up to 80 rubles (£1.60) an hour.
Russian law dictates a 40-hour working week with at least one day off.
The cramped complex, which was home to about 260 migrants, contained dormitories and workshops packed with sewing machines as well as a canteen, a chicken coop, a cinema and casino.
The undocumented workers were arrested during a police raid, with video footage showing the bleak living conditions where there is no natural light.
They were found underneath the former site of the Cherkizovsky market, which was closed down in 2009, reports NBC News.
About 80 of the workers came from former Soviet Republics, such as Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, which have struggled with poverty since the USSR broke up in 1991.
Russia Today reports that 181 of the workers were Vietnamese.
They did not have work documents to allow them to work legally in the country.
About nine million migrants arrive in Russia a year looking for work, according to the Russian authorities.
Charity the Eurasia Foundation says 80 per cent come from the former Soviet satellite territories with open visa conditions. Many send money home to support their families.
They work in low-paid jobs such as building and street cleaning, paid less than Russian nationals, and suffer from poor-quality housing, long working hours and exploitation, with some telling a recent Human Rights Watch report that they had not been paid for their labour.
The 'gastarbeiters' (guest workers) are also targeted for abuse by Russian nationalists and by police raids.
'Migrants are constantly in a state of danger… they are in a constant state of stress,' Svetlana Gannushkina of human rights group Assistance for Citizens told NBC.
'But they are needed and are beneficial to those that keep on exploiting them.'
About seven per cent of Russia's work force is made up of illegal migrant workers, according a report by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development last year.
In March the head of the Russian Federal Migration said the country needed up to six million foreign workers - roughly 300,000 a year - to become citizens to ease the burden of an ageing population and meet the country's targets for economic development.
About 100,000 immigrant workers are thought to be working in construction in the Black Sea resort Sochi, the host city for the 2014 Winter Olympics.
Human Rights Watch reported that workers, such as carpenters and welders, claim they had been cheated out of wages, forced to work 12-hour shifts and seven day weeks, and had their passports and work permits confiscated to coerce them into staying at the sites.
The workers said they were earning up to 80 rubles (£1.60) an hour.
Russian law dictates a 40-hour working week with at least one day off.
Source : NBC, DailyMail
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