consider the work of migrants useful for the country and society has grown from 41% (2013) to 50% (end of
2021), but the share of those who disagree with them remains very significant and amounts to 45% (Levada
Center data, December 2021). The escalation of anti-Ukrainian propaganda has led to a sharp increase in
hostility towards Ukraine and Ukrainians. Comparing the situation before February 2022 (the share of negative
attitudes was appr. 32%-33%), after the outbreak of the war, their sharp increase to 70% is recorded (November
2022, data from the Levada Center).
23. Russia's migration policy is constantly being tightened, both at the level of strategic documents and at the level
of legislation and practice. In October 2018, a new, more stringent Concept of the state Migration Policy for
2019-2025 was adopted. Anti-migrant rhetoric remains a constant part of the socio-political discourse and
content of pro-government media and social networks. Statistical data is often manipulated resulting in
allegations of a high level of crime among migrants, despite the fact that the proportion of crimes committed
by foreigners has been stable (around 4%) relative to all crimes.
24. During the reporting period, a number of serious incidents involving migrants occurred in Russia, followed by
mass anti-migrant demonstrations demanding collective responsibility of migrants and tightening of migration
policy, hate crimes, police raids (for example, in Yakutsk, 2019).
25. Racial and ethnic profiling by law enforcement officials remains an unrecognized problem in Russia. Raids
and roundups with the detention of dozens and hundreds of people are a common way of responding to crimes
and incidents involving migrants. In all these cases, the actions of the police were supported by anti-migrant
statements of the authorities. Sometimes anti-migrant raids occur for no apparent reason and are presented as
"preventive measures". As a result, migrants cannot feel safe anywhere – not only in workplaces or at home,
but even in mosques and leisure venues.6
VI. The disastrous impact of the war and mobilization on members of minorities
26. The "partial mobilization" announced in Russia on September 21, 2022 disproportionately affected the poorest
regions of Russia, where ethnic minorities and indigenous peoples live. Activists of the Free Buryatia
Foundation declare genocide, concluding that the likelihood to be killed is almost 300 times lower for a resident
of Moscow than Buryats. Indigenous anti-war protests are being persecuted. Thus, the website of the Free
Buryatia Foundation was blocked on July 13, 2022; the leader of the Buryat protest, Alexandra Garmazhapova,
was recognized a "foreign agent" and then put on the wanted list.
27. Migrants are recruited both for contract service and for illegal armed formations Wagner. There were attempts
to mobilize foreigners for regular army, although their recruiting is prohibited by the law "On the legal Status
of foreign Citizens in the Russian Federation". Doing this, Russia inclines migrants to commit a criminal
offense (mercenary activity). Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the deaths of at least 22 natives of
Tajikistan and at least 6 natives of Kyrgyzstan who fought on the side of Russia have been confirmed. These
were both citizens of these countries and recently naturalized citizens of the Russian Federation.
28. Mobilization has become one of the elements of the repressive policy towards Crimean Tatar people: They are
cynically forced to fight against their country, their relatives and friends. During the first days of mobilization,
the Crimean Tatars received about 1.5 thousand summonses.7 The mobilization provoked a wave of departure
of the Crimean Tatars from the peninsula, which they call "self-deportation".
VII. Discrimination related to citizenship
A. Detention of stateless persons and migrants in deportation centers
29. According to the population census of 2020-21, about 95,000 stateless people live in Russia. Human rights
activists estimate the number of stateless persons up to 400-500 thousand people. Russian migration legislation
treats migrants with citizenship and stateless persons as a similar group, including the laws regulating
expulsion/deportation. Violation of the migration regime leads to administrative proceedings that may be
executed within a 2-year time limit. During this period, undocumented stateless persons might be deprived of
6
In St. Petersburg, on New Year's Eve 2023, during the festivities in the city center, about 2,000 labor migrants from Central Asia were
detained as part of a "preventive raid". Subsequently court decisions on the offense were issued only against 69 foreign citizens (mostly
for violation rules of entry or stay in the Russian Federation).
7
Tamila Tasheva, Representative of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, statement, "Voice of America",
1.10.2022.
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