After the terrorist attack at Crocus, foreign workers came under inspection by migration services

After the terrorist attack at Crocus, foreign workers came under inspection by migration services

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Immediately after the terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall involving immigrants from Central Asia, law enforcement agencies intensified inspections of companies in the consumer sector and the construction industry, where foreign workers account for a significant part of the workforce. After such an inspection, which took place on March 27 at the Wildberries warehouse in the Moscow region, 38 people were detained. For businesses, violations when hiring migrants are fraught with serious sanctions – a fine of 1 million rubles. for each illegally employed foreigner or suspension of work for three months. But market participants cannot quickly abandon labor migrants or seriously reduce their number: the Russian economy is very dependent on such labor.

After the terrorist attack that occurred on March 22 at Crocus City Hall, during which 143 people were killed, businesses forced to hire people from Central Asia began to face inspections from migration services. Representatives of retail trade and construction industry companies reported this to Kommersant. Thus, on March 27, law enforcement officers checked the documents of migrants working at the Wildberries warehouse in Elektrostal, Moscow Region. As a result, 38 warehouse employees will undergo additional checks by law enforcement agencies, the company clarified.

A Kommersant source in a company that manages apartment buildings reported that document checks of migrant workers have begun at some of its facilities. Security checks are underway for workers involved in the housing and communal services sector, said Nikita Chulochnikov, president of the Association of Real Estate Service Companies. Kommersant’s interlocutor at the development company says that migrant construction workers who may have problems with documents are temporarily suspended from work and sent to the migration center to check their labor patents. On March 27, a video of large queues appeared on social networks at such a center in Sakharovo in New Moscow.

Official business representatives refuse to comment on this topic. The Ministry of Internal Affairs did not respond to Kommersant’s request.

After incidents involving immigrants from Central Asia, mass checks of migrants often begin, says SuperJob President Alexey Zakharov. This is confirmed by the head of the Center for Analytical and Practical Research of Migration Processes, Vyacheslav Postavnin, adding that this is common practice after an emergency event in all countries.

At the end of 2023, President Vladimir Putin estimated the number of migrant workers in Russia at 10 million people. In January-October 2023, according to the FSB, 3.6 million labor migrants entered the country. Over the past year, in Moscow alone, courts made about 42 thousand decisions on the expulsion of foreigners from Russia, Oleg Baranov, head of the capital department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, previously reported.

Managing partner of the Zamoskvorechye legal bureau, Dmitry Shevchenko, calls the most common subjects of migrant checks to be violations by foreigners of the rules of entry or stay in Russia. This may be expressed, for example, in the absence of documents permitting stay in the country, evasion of departure after the expiration of the deadline, discrepancy between the stated and actual purpose. “If a foreigner entered as a tourist, but got a job at a construction site, administrative liability arises – a fine and deportation from the Russian Federation,” explains the expert.

If illegal migrants are identified, companies may be held accountable for illegally hiring a foreigner, providing him with housing, transportation or other services: a violation involves a fine of up to 500 thousand rubles, says Dmitry Shevchenko. Hiring a migrant without a permit or patent involves a penalty of up to 1 million rubles. for each employee or suspension of activities for up to 90 days, the lawyer adds.

After the tragic events of March 22, a number of managers of management companies decided to give priority to local residents when hiring, says Sergei Kostyuchenkov, Chairman of the Housing and Communal Services Committee of the Tula Chamber of Commerce and Industry. “For the last 20 years, Russia has been focusing on attracting unskilled migrants, and today they make up a significant part of our economy,” states Alexey Zakharov. But it is impossible to refuse their services now, since, according to Vyacheslav Postavnin, “housing and communal services, agriculture, transport and other industries will collapse.” There is not a single example in the world where a country with a declining population has developed without migration flows, the expert adds.

Daria Andrianova, Alexandra Mertsalova, Vladimir Komarov

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