What Does the Concept of “Regulation of Migration” Mean in Russia?

Regulation of Migration :Alexander Osipov

In the Russian migration policy [1], no matter how it is defined and assessed, two stages can be distinguished since the beginning of the 90s. The first, conditionally “Yeltsin” – covers the period from the beginning of the 90s. until 2000, the second, conditionally “Putin’s” – from 2000 to the present. The point of view prevailing among officials, politicians and specialists, as well as in the Russian mass media, can be conveyed approximately as follows. After the collapse of the USSR, the Russian government did not pay the necessary attention to the problem of migration, did not show sufficient will, and the policy pursued was inconsistent and contradictory. As a result, migration processes “got out of control”, and the country turned into a “gateway”. For example, as the head of the Federal Migration Service and Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation A. Chernenko put it, “Over the past 10 years, control over migration processes has been lost in Russia; as a result, the country has turned into a “hoarding” of illegal migrants ”[2]. The change of the top leadership entailed a gradual “restoring order”, the fight against illegal migration and the adoption of new legislation in line with the “interests of the country” and the practice adopted in Western countries

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *