Migrant homeless threaten well-run business of Moscow beggars

Russian police have registered an increased number of calls from Russian beggars asking to deal with rivals from ex-Soviet republics, who drive them out of profitable locations.

Russian police have registered an increased number of calls from Russian beggars asking to deal with rivals from other ex-Soviet republics, who drive them out of profitable locations.

Police are often called to railway and bus hubs, as well as major subway stations, where "native" Moscow beggars ask officers to check the documents of their rivals.

Russia's transport police say only some 10% of beggars in the Moscow Metro are residents of Moscow and its suburbs. Migrants from neighboring republics make up more than half of all the beggars in the city's underground, with Russians from other regions accounting for the remainder.

Begging in the capital appears to be a profitable business, which makes Moscow beggars Europe's richest, according to research by the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Moscow beggars earn on average around 200-300 rubles ($6.60-$10) per hour, or 50,000 rubles ($1,600) per month, on par with a subway train engineer's salary.

The most financially successful beggars are the disabled, minors and women with small children, who receive up to 5,000 rubles a day.

MOSCOW, February 2 (RIA Novosti)