VORONEZH, June 24 (RIA Novosti) - Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev said on Thursday the lack of cooperation between police forces in Russia and neighboring countries has consolidated the criminal world across the ex-Soviet space.

"We should honestly say to each other today's criminal world has long since outgrown international borders," Nurgaliyev said at a meeting on Russian-Ukrainian border cooperation.

"A united criminal space has formed across the ex-Soviet Union territory, this is a fact," he added.

Nurgaliyev said Russia and Ukraine should strengthen bilateral cooperation in combating crime.

"This is the only way to protect society from today's criminal threats such as international terrorism, extremism, transnational crime, drug trade, illegal migration, human trafficking and arms trafficking," he added.