Paul Goble
Staunton, Jan. 17 – The Russian government has ordered the interior ministry, the FSB, and the economic development ministry to prepare a draft law to eliminate existing foreign ethnic enclaves and prevent the addition of more to what is already “a multitude” of such places operating outside the Russian legal space (garant.ru/products/ipo/prime/doc/413296322/).
But this effort is currently being subverted by regional business and political elites who profit from the migrant workers and thus are willing to have such enclaves exist continue to exist or even grow in number and size, according to Kirill Kabanov, head of the National Anti-Corruption Committee (svpressa.ru/society/article/498962/).
There have been some successes in shutting down or changing the nature of such enclaves, he says; but these are far too few. And if serious progress is going to be made, Moscow rather than regional officials are going to have to take control of the situation and override the latter who are happy to make money and denounce opposition to the enclaves as “xenophobic.”
Up to now, the Russian authorities have failed to define just what an ethnic enclave is and have issued decrees, policy statements and even laws that act as if the task is primarily to prevent such enclaves from emerging, Kabanov says, when in fact everyone knows that there are a lot of them across the country and taking control of them must be a priority task.
That will require the regions to change their approach and limit the attractiveness of their territories to foreign workers and to work hard to control those who are already present. If the regions don’t do that quickly, the anti-corruption chief says, then Moscow including the FSB must intervene against them.
This is perhaps the clearest indication yet that the Kremlin plans to expand its anti-immigration effort and use it as a way to clean house in those regions and republics where elites have welcomed and continue to welcome migrant labor.
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