Paul Goble
Staunton,
February 20 – Since 2012, Russia Today has maintained a portal, “Russia for All,”
with pages in Azerbaijani, Kyrgyz, Crimean Tatar, Circassians, Tajik and
Russian, to help immigrants integrate into Russian life. But the site is no
longer being updated and its 25-member staff has been let go (nazaccent.ru/content/29265-portal-dlya-migrantov-rossiya-dlya-vseh.html).
Neither the site nor any other Russian
official has announced the closure, Nazaccent says; but it has earned that the portal
is being shuttered and will resurface if it all as part of the United
Humanities Publishing House, yet another indication of both budgetary stringencies
and changing political priorities in Moscow.
Elena Davydova, the chief editor of the
site, refused to answer questions and referred Nazaccent to her bosses at
Russia Today. She did say that the latter will “in the near future” announce
what they plan to do, if anything.
The shuttering of this portal will
only add to the difficulties migrant workers face in getting information in their
own languages about how to navigate Russian life. Some of them may turn to less
reliable sources or even decide to return to their own country rather than gain
permanent resident status or even citizenship in Russia.
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