Russia cracking down on illegal migrants

The Associated Press
Published: January 15, 2007

MOSCOW: Russia began a crackdown Monday on millions of illegal workers, as tough new migration rules took effect amid a rising tide of anti-immigrant sentiment.

Under the new rules, which set a quota of six million foreign workers for 2007, the authorities are carrying out strict checks on the estimated 10 million to 12 million foreigners who are already working in Russia, most of them illegally.

The legislation relaxes stringent procedures for citizens of most former Soviet republics who enter Russia from Jan. 15 to obtain work permits, but it also increase fines for businesses that employ illegal migrants.

Further limiting the right of foreigners to work in Russia, a government decree that took effect Jan. 1 restricted the number of non-Russians in the retail trade.

Immigration has become a major issue for the government of President Vladimir Putin amid growing popular resentment of migrants — in particular, dark-skinned workers from the former Soviet republics in the Caucasus and Central Asia.

Racist attacks and hate crimes are on the rise, and the popularity of the Movement Against Illegal Immigration — a rightist political organization — has risen sharply in recent months.

Critics warn that the crackdown will only encourage xenophobic sentiment, fuel inflation and accelerate the country's population decline.

The population of Russia is dropping by about 700,000 a year and has fallen below 143 million. The population decline would be even more catastrophic were it not for immigration.

Migrants from former Soviet republics, most from the Caucasus and Central Asia, are the main source of cheap labor in Russia. They do menial jobs for low pay, forming the backbone of the work force in the construction industry and food and clothing markets.

Under the new regulations, businesses that employ people without proper documents face fines of up to 800,000 rubles, or about $30,000, and a three-month trading suspension.

Last year, Putin ordered new measures to curtail the use of foreign workers, especially at markets, saying that they were crowding out native Russian producers and retailers.

In Khabarovsk, on the Chinese border, Chinese market vendors have been packing up their unsold goods and heading back home. One clothing trader, Li Chen Tsza, said he had marked down his prices by 50 percent to get rid of his inventory.

"They told us that from the New Year we won't be able to sell our goods here anymore," he said in televised comments.

The deputy director of the Federal Migration Service, Vyacheslav Postavnin, insisted that the authorities' only aim was to legalize migrant labor.

"For us, the main thing is that neither Russians nor Russian citizens who employ foreigners should violate migration law," he said in an interview published Monday in the government daily Rossiiskaya Gazeta.

The official also dismissed fears that a fall in the number of foreign workers would present a problem for employers.

"At the end of the day, they can hire Russian citizens," he said.

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