Moscow Must Carefully Distinguish Between Temporary and Permanent Immigrants to Ensure that the Former Don’t Become the Latter, Shustov Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Apr. 10 – One of the biggest shortcomings in Russian discussions about immigration is a failure to distinguish between those who come to Russia to work and then go home when the work is done and those who come to Russia and plan to remain there permanently, Aleksandr Shustov says.

            Russia needs both, the Rhythm of Eurasia writer says; but it must ensure that those who come to fill jobs for which there is a shortage of Russian workers then go home and not remain permanently and transform the ethnic mix of the country (ritmeurasia.ru/news--2024-04-10--gremuchaja-smes-ili-kogda-vremennaja-i-postojannaja-migracija-v-odnom-flakone-72634).

            And at the same time, Shustov continues, Moscow must work to promote permanent immigration only among groups that are culturally, politically and linguistically similar to the ethnic Russian majority of the Russian Federation. Doing anything else, he suggests, could prove suicidal.

            To ensure that both things occur, he argues, Russian officials must distinguish between the two groups and have specific policies for each rather than as now discussing the issue of migrants as if it were a single thing and adopting policies for the entire group that may compromise one or the other of Russia’s needs.