MOSCOW, February 16 - RAPSI. The number of cases on alimony collection decreased in 2011 for the first time over the recent years, Artur Parfenchikov, the Federal Bailiffs' Service Director reported on Thursday.

"The reduction is so far slight - only by 20,000. The number of enforcement proceedings in the given category amounted to 1,097,000," he said.

Failure to pay alimony is a serious social problem. For this reason bailiffs annually prohibit thousands of Russian citizens from going abroad. According to December reports, bailiffs imposed on debtors 370,000 temporary bans on exit from Russia over 11 months of 2011. Actually a third of them is defaulted on alimony payment.