The head of Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office   Holger Münch in an interview with Welt am Sonntag newspaper said that the Russian mafia gained a serious foothold in the country.

According to him, these criminals have potential to cause enormous damage, billions of euros could be lost in Germany as a result of organized crime, DW reported.

Münch said that from eight up to ten  percent of inmates in German prisons were Russian speakers, this is about 5,000 people.

According to Holger Münch, they are immigrants from Russia, Abkhazia, Caucasus, Turkmenistan and other regions of the former Soviet Union.

According to previous estimates of the German authorities, the criminal community of immigrants from the former Soviet Union in Germany ranged from 20 to 40 thousand people.

Now the Federal Criminal Police Office speaks of five-digit numbers, and adds that it has no more information.