Category: Migrants

PONARS EVENT: “Political Reforms and Transitional Justice for Postwar Russia: Evidence from In-depth Interviews with Russian Wartime Migrants”

Academia, Education, Academia, Events, Headlines, Migrants, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War

with Dr. Mikhail Turchenko (Indiana University) Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023, 4pm to 5pm Elliott School of International Affairs, Lindner Family Commons Room 602, 1957 E Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20052 REGISTER HERE: docs.google.com/forms … [Online – Join the Zoom here: gwu-edu.zoom.us/j/93979679063] In case of a regime change, Russia will not be able to move forward with the current institutional framework […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Russian pundit says migration policy needs to be ‘more open'” – Izvestia/Sergei Ryazantsev

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, JRL NewsBlog, Migrants, Population Disaster, Demographics
Russian Migrant Workers file photo

In Izvestia, Sergei Ryazantsev argues: “… The United Nations rates [Russia] third after the United States and Germany in terms of number of immigrants. … in 2015 … the US population born overseas amounted to 46.6m; 12m went to Germany, 11.6m to Russia. Uzbeks, Tajiks, Kyrgyz, Armenians, Azerbaijanis, and representatives of other republics of the former USSR began to come […]

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Ukrainians Abroad: The Economics and Politics of Labor Migration

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Migrants, Population Disaster, Demographics, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

(Kennan Institute – wilsoncenter.org/program/kennan-institute – Brian Milakovsky – February 7, 2018) [Text with links kennan-focusukraine.org/ukrainians-abroad-the-economics-and-politics-of-labor-migration/] Brian Milakovsky works on economic recovery issues at a humanitarian organization in Luhanska Oblast, Ukraine . He has been in Ukraine or Russia since 2009, working in both the ecological and humanitarian sectors. In December, Ukraine’s Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan made a statement that raised […]

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Russians’ Tolerance for Foreigners at All-Time High

Migrants, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Population Disaster, Demographics, Race, Ethnic, Extremism, Xenophobia
Russian Migrant Workers file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – August 24, 2017) Negativity towards foreigners in Russia has reached an all-time low, according to the results of a new poll produced Levada Center. Russians who said they’d like to restrict one or more nationalities from the country fell to its lowest level ever at 54 percent, down from 70 percent in 2016, and an […]

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State Duma committee approves text of Russia’s naturalization oath

Migrants, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Population Disaster, Demographics
Russian State Duma Building file photo

MOSCOW. July 4 (Interfax) – The State Duma Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building has approved the text of the naturalization oath of allegiance to Russia. This is an amendment to the draft law, which deprives convicted terrorists of Russian citizenship. It will be considered by the State Duma on Wednesday, on July 12. The oath is as follows, […]

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Interfax: Over 265,000 people receive Russian citizenship in 2016, renunciation cases exceptional – Interior Ministry

Migrants, Population Disaster, Demographics
Russia Map

MOSCOW. April 20 (Interfax) – The instances in which people file applications to give up Russian citizenship are very rare, Olga Kirillova, the head of the Russian Interior Ministry’s Main Migration Department, said on Wednesday. “The instances in which people give up Russian citizenship are negligible,” Kirillova told reporters. Valentina Kazakova, deputy head of the Main Migration Department, said over […]

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New Law Requires Knowledge of Russian For Residency

Foreign Policy, Security, Visas, Migrants, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Migrant Workers file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – April 22, 2014) President Vladimir Putin has signed into law a bill that requires foreigners to prove their ability to speak Russian while also giving his seal of approval to a separate bill that will make it easier to grant citizenship to Russian-speakers in former Soviet states. The new immigration rules for foreign citizens, published […]

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RIA Novosti: 1 Million Foreigners Could Be Working Illegally in Moscow – Official

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Migrants
Aerial View of Moscow From Beyond Stadium, file photo

MOSCOW, January 9 (RIA Novosti) ­ About a million foreigners could be working illegally in the Russian capital, a top Moscow migration official suggested Thursday. Olga Kirillova, head of the Federal Migration Service’s Moscow branch, said in televised remarks to the state-run channel Moskva 24 that just over 415,000 foreigners work legally in the city. She said that the overall […]

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Can European socialism be good to Russia?

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Migrants, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Map of Russia

(Pravda.ru – Nadezhda Alekseeva) Europe is moaning under the strong influx of immigrants, and the floodgates were opened by European socialists. A poisonous bite of suicidal tolerance has dulled the natural instinct of self-preservation of the European nations. In recent years, Euro-socialism has been trying to take root on the Russian soil, so far without much success. Does it have […]

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Putin Lays Out Illegal Migration Agenda During Annual Address

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Migrants
Truck at Russian Border Crossing

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Yekaterina Kravtsova – December 12, 2013) President Vladimir Putin touched upon the burning topic of illegal migration and Russia’s relations with former Soviet republics during his State of the Nation address on Thursday. Control over illegal migration will be tightened, yet ties with neighboring countries will be strengthened, Putin said. He proposed creating barriers for […]

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Regions ‘Quietly Sabotaging’ Moscow’s Nationality Policy, Expert Says

Migrants, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Race, Ethnic, Extremism, Xenophobia
Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, December 1, 2013) Even as the Russian government takes the first steps to shift responsibility for inter-ethnic peace onto the leaderships of the federal subjects, a Russian expert has warned that “in certain regions,” what is going on with respect to the implementation of nationality policy can only be described as “quiet […]

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Interfax: Most migrants come to Russia in visa-free travel regime, many don’t speak Russian

Migrants
Migrant Workers file photo

MOSCOW. Nov 20 (Interfax) – A third of migrant workers do not speak Russian, Federal Migration Service head Konstantin Romodanovsky said. “We are witnessing a surge in the arrivals of migrants from CIS member countries. As of now, 11.1 million foreigners are staying in Russia, and almost three-quarters of them enjoy the visa-free travel regime,” he told a roundtable in […]

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Cruelty at Russian hospitals: Illegal migration – red herring

Health, Epidemics, Substance Abuse, Migrants, Race, Ethnic, Extremism, Xenophobia
Eurasia Map

(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Natalia Antonova, Acting Editor-in-Chief – November 8, 2013) An Uzbek migrant in labor was initially denied entry to a Vladivostok hospital and nearly gave birth on the doorstep. Although the Investigative Committee looked into the incident, they will not be launching a criminal case. And the head of the regional branch of the Federal Migration […]

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Russian Nation Said to Have Lost Its Ability to Assimilate Others

Migrants, Race, Ethnic, Extremism, Xenophobia
Migrant Workers file photo

(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, November 6, 2013) For most of modern times, ethnic Russians have assimilated members of other nations living among them because they represented a more advanced community, but now, a Moscow blogger says, they have “lost the ability to assimilate other peoples,” something that makes the influx of non-Russian migrants even more disturbing […]

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Interfax: Russian March assesses degree of public discontent – policy expert

Migrants, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Race, Ethnic, Extremism, Xenophobia
Kremlin and St. Basil's

MOSCOW. Nov 5 (Interfax) – The relative serenity of the Russian March was based on the wish of its organizers to avoid “rocking the boat” and instead to assess public sentiment about migration and inter-ethnic relations, policy expert Nikolai Mironov said. “It seems the March organizers did not want to disturb the peace. I think it was a test; they […]

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Ethnic Affairs Ministry Mulled as Anti-Migrant Sentiment Rises

Migrants, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Population Disaster, Demographics, Race, Ethnic, Extremism, Xenophobia
Migrant Workers file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Oleg Sukhov – November 6, 2013) A day after hundreds of detentions at numerous nationalist rallies across the country, media reports circulated Tuesday that the government is considering creating an interethnic relations ministry to keep tensions under control. Immigration has dominated the Russian media landscape since thousands took part in a nationalist riot in the […]

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The mean streets of Russian nationalism; Who are Russia’s real nationalists? And why are they rioting?

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Migrants, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Race, Ethnic, Extremism, Xenophobia
Biryulyovo Riots file photo

(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Anna Arutunyan, Natalia Antonova – October 31, 2013) In the past, Maria, a sales manager, never attended the nationalist Russian March, an annual rally commemorating Russia’s Day of National Unity. This time, less than a month after taking part in a violent nationalist protest in southern Moscow’s Biryulyovo district, is different. “I’m ready to go,” […]

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Interfax: Patriarch Kirill: Biryulyovo events demonstrate government unwillingness to solve excessive migration problem

Migrants, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Race, Ethnic, Extremism, Xenophobia, Religion
Patriarch Kirill file photo

MOSCOW. Oct 31 (Interfax) – The latest events in Moscow’s Biryulyovo district show that only the forces seeking to destroy Russia will gain from further disregard of the opinion of the Russian majority, said Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and all Russia. “The latest clashes in the Moscow Biryulyovo district demonstrated that a deaf ear turned by the authorities to the […]

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Ten Myths About Migrants

Migrants
Migrant Workers file photo

(Institute of Modern Russia – imrussia.org – Alexander Podrabinek – October 28, 2013) The “migrant issue” is being presented as one of the main pressure points in Russian society. Author and human rights activist Alexander Podrabinek discusses the ten most popular myths about migrants­and debunks nine of them. When I wrote that the migrant issue in Russia was mostly artificial […]

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RIA Novosti: Bribery, Arrests Among Language Topics in Textbook for Migrants

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Human Rights, Migrants, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Race, Ethnic, Extremism, Xenophobia
Migrant Workers file photo

MOSCOW, October 30 (RIA Novosti) ­ “Why are you arresting me?” “Isn’t it just easier to give money to the policeman?” “What do you do if the police beat you?” Practice conversations in a special Russian language-learning textbook ­ handed out at an experimental new cultural integration center for migrants ­ focus on topics considered most relevant to guest workers […]

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RIA Novosti: Russia Among 7 Best Countries for Expatriates

Migrants
Migrant Workers file photo

MOSCOW, October 31 (RIA Novosti) ­ Russia was named seventh best country for expatriates in an annual survey involving more than 7,000 expats worldwide and described as one of the largest of its kind. HSBC Expat Explorer analyzes three major criteria for various countries – quality of life as a foreigner, the opportunity to make money and conditions for raising […]

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Citizen Or Foreign Migrant? In Moscow, The Line Is Often Blurred

Migrants, Race, Ethnic, Extremism, Xenophobia
Aerial View of Moscow From Beyond Stadium, file photo

(RFE/RL – Tom Balmforth – MOSCOW, October 30, 2013) The two men have a lot in common. Both are in their 20s and moved to Moscow in search of a better life. Both face discrimination with employment, encounter harassment from police, and have struggled to find places to live. Neither has many Russian friends. But there is one important difference […]

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Business ombudsman Boris Titov proposes amnesty for migrants

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Migrants
Boris Titov file photo

MOSCOW. Oct 24 (Interfax) – Russian business ombudsman Boris Titov said that the one-time migration amnesty that he has proposed would allow legalization of labor in the migration market and would bring 74 billion rubles to the treasury. “We propose a one-time amnesty for those who already are working in Russia on the condition of concluding a labor agreement and […]

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Putin Makes Local Governors Responsible for Ethnic Relations

Migrants, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Race, Ethnic, Extremism, Xenophobia, Regions, Cities, Municipalities
Migrant Workers file photo

UFA, October 22 (RIA Novosti) ­ President Vladimir Putin signed a law Tuesday giving local authorities more responsibility for handling relations between ethnic communities in a sign the government is growing nervous at evidence of a surge in nationalist-tinged discontent. Speaking at the Interethnic Relations Council in the Urals town of Ufa, Putin lashed out at local governments for what […]

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Organizations Fighting Illegal Migration Could Get State Support

Migrants, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Delphine d’Amora – October 22, 2013) A bill submitted to the State Duma on Tuesday could add NGOs engaged in the fight with illegal immigration to the list of organizations that the government is authorized to support. The law currently sanctions government aid for organizations involved in 12 areas of social work, such as disaster […]

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Communists call for active contacts with migrants, their involvement in politics

Migrants, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Race, Ethnic, Extremism, Xenophobia
Migrant Workers file photo

(Interfax – MOSCOW, October 19, 2013) The Russian Communist Party intends to more actively involve migrants in protest rallies “to strengthen the international component of the protest movement,” a draft decree the Central Committee of the Communist Party is expected to adopt at a plenum held in the village of Moskovsky on Saturday says. The Central Committee’s departments on nationalities […]

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Migrant raids in Moscow largely waste of time

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Migrants, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Race, Ethnic, Extremism, Xenophobia
Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Natalia Antonova, Acting Editor-in-Chief, October 18, 2013) The weekly sweeps targeting illegal migrants in Moscow are certainly an ambitious project. It’s just too bad that they won’t do much good. The police plan on going door-to-door, to find out exactly where and from whom that migrants are renting living space, according to Moscow Police Chief […]

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Police to Raid Migrants’ Apartments Every Friday

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Human Rights, Migrants, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Population Disaster, Demographics, Race, Ethnic, Extremism, Xenophobia
Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Natalya Krainova – October 21, 2013) In the latest step by authorities to fight unlawful immigration following an anti-migrant riot earlier this month, the city’s police chief said that Moscow police will raid apartments reportedly occupied by illegal migrants every Friday until the end of the year. The initiative, announced by top cop Anatoly Yakunin […]

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How Wealthy Russians Buy a 2nd Passport

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Foreign Policy, Security, Visas, Migrants
File Photo of Man Placing Stack of Large Bills into Inside Pocket of Suitcoat

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Sam Skove – October 18, 2013) When Nuri Katz, founder of investment firm Apex Capital, heads for the customs gate, he gets to decide which of his three passports to use ­ – a privilege that his Russian clients would pay up to 5 million euros to enjoy. Katz is in the citizenship-by-investment business. Select […]

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Presumption of innocence violated in Biryulyovo murder suspect’s case – Azeri Foreign Ministry

Azerbaijan, South Caucasus, Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Migrants, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Population Disaster, Demographics, Race, Ethnic, Extremism, Xenophobia
Map of Azerbaijan and South Caucasus Environs Including Portions of Armenia, Georgia, Russia, Iran, Caspian Sea

(Interfax – BAKU, October 17, 2013) Azerbaijan’s Embassy in Moscow has lodged a protest with the Russian Foreign Ministry over what it called violations of the rights of Azeri native Orkhan Zeynalov, who is suspected of killing ethnic Russian man Yegor Shcherbakov in the Biryulyovo district in southern Moscow. “The brutal detention and brutal treatment of Orkhan Zeynalov, whom they […]

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Ethnic Tensions Still High In Moscow In Wake Of Suspected Killer’s Arrest

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Migrants, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Population Disaster, Demographics, Race, Ethnic, Extremism, Xenophobia
Aerial View of Moscow From Beyond Stadium, file photo

(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Claire Bigg and Arifa Kazimova – October 16, 2013) Footage detailing the heavy-handed arrest of an Azerbaijani native suspected of killing a Russian man in Moscow has escalated mounting ethnic tensions between the two nations. Russian police detained Orkhan Zeynalov on October 15 on suspicion of fatally stabbing a 25-year-old ethnic Russian man, Yegor Shcherbakov, in […]

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Russia Again Caught Between Disintegration and Dictatorship, Editor Says

Migrants, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Population Disaster, Demographics, Race, Ethnic, Extremism, Xenophobia, Terrorism
Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, October 17, 2013) The Russian Federation finds itself in a Zugswang, a German term for a situation in which any move leads to a loss, according to the editor of “Kulturolog.” And in its case, the situation is especially dire because the country increasingly finds itself forced to choose between disintegration and […]

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RIA Novosti: No Need To Toughen Russian Immigration Law Despite Riots – Senior Official

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Migrants, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Race, Ethnic, Extremism, Xenophobia
Biryulyovo Riots file photo

(RIA Novosti – October 14, 2013) Russia’s immigration laws do not need to be tightened, the country’s top migration official said on 14 October, in the wake of protests and rioting sparked off by the killing in Moscow of an ethnic Russian, allegedly by an immigrant from the Caucasus. Despite the unrest, Konstantin Romodanovskiy, head of Russia’s Federal Migration Service […]

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Nationalist Riots In Moscow Send Fear Through Muslim Migrant Communities

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Human Rights, Migrants, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Population Disaster, Demographics, Race, Ethnic, Extremism, Xenophobia
Biryulyovo Riots file photo

(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Tom Balmforth – MOSCOW, October 14, 2013) Moscow’s migrant workers have seen this story before and they believe they have reason to be afraid. When an unidentified man — believed to be from the Caucasus — stabbed and killed a young ethnic Russian on October 10, triggering the capital’s worst ethnic riots in three years, police […]

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