Migrants Taking Jobs Russians have Left to Flee Abroad Likely to Boost Size of Ghettos and Spark Social Conflicts, Russian Interior Ministry Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Dec. 23 – The Russian interior ministry says that many foreigners who are now coming into the country to take jobs that Russians who have left the country because of the war in Ukraine are likely to spark new conflicts between such immigrants even if they acquire Russian citizenship and the indigenous population.

            The ministry’s projection of such problems comes in the course of discussions about the possible modification of the country’s state migration policy, a document currently set to run until 2025 (nazaccent.ru/content/39729-mvd-ottok-rossiyan-za-rubezh-v-2022-godu-vedet-k-risku-obostreniya-konfliktov-s-migrantami.html).

            The numbers of such immigrants and of those immigrants obtaining Russian citizenship are likely to rise; but even those with citizenship are likely to remain in ethnic enclaves, the ministry says, where informal rules, an increase in crime, and clashes on the basis of ethnicity and religion are invariable consequences.

            Not surprisingly, the interior ministry is careful to avoid blaming this trend on the war in Ukraine; but had Putin not launched his expanded invasion against that country and so many Russians decided to leave, their jobs wouldn’t have had to be filled and migrants wouldn’t be filling them – yet another way Putin’s war is coming home to Russia’s streets.