DUSHANBE, October 22, 2011, Asia-Plus -- Moscow authorities are clamping down on illegal immigrants, Russian news agency, RIA Novosti, reports.

Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin has signed an instruction to introduce compulsory fingerprinting of all labor migrants.

All foreigners employed in Moscow will have their fingerprints taken if a joint proposal by the capital’s migration body and the Interior Ministry is adopted, a city hall source said on Thursday.

The proposal, which has been sent to Russia’s Federal Migration Service, would see the fingerprints of “foreigners and stateless people taken when they receive work permits.”

The source said the move had been backed by Moscow City Mayor Sergey Sobyanin.