HRC proposes to remind migrants who have become Russian citizens of military duty

The Presidential Council for Human Rights (HRC) announced the preparation of several initiatives in the field of migration legislation. Thus, the Human Rights Council proposes: to synchronize the issuance of Russian passports and the registration of new citizens for military registration, to fix the responsibility of employers for foreign workers, and also to prohibit schools from accepting children who do not speak Russian.

Against the background of a number of news about the forced military registration of former foreign citizens who received Russian passports, HRC members Kirill Kabanov, Marina Akhmedova and Council Chairman Valery Fadeev held a press conference on the development of migration legislation. “The task that the HRC sets itself is to promote the maximum integration of migrants into the Russian public space. This is especially true for those who become citizens of Russia,” said the head of the HRC. He noted with regret: new citizens of the Russian Federation often forget about new responsibilities:

“Often they get a passport, but they forget to register with the military enlistment office.”

The head of the HRC said that the council is ready to take part in the development of a procedure for synchronizing the issuance of Russian citizenship and military registration.

Kirill Kabanov, in an interview with Kommersant, said that about 90% of foreigners who received Russian citizenship do not register with the military registration and enlistment office: “This explains the situation in St. Petersburg, where, during a raid to identify violators of migration legislation, the police delivered about a hundred Russian citizens not registered.” Mr. Kabanov sees several reasons why this is happening: “Firstly, not everyone wants to serve. Secondly, SVO influences the situation. Many of them retain their first citizenship, and the authorities (countries of birth.— “b”) openly declare that participation in the NWO will be perceived as mercenarism, that is, a criminal offense.

During the press conference, Mr. Kabanov mentioned the problem of ethnic enclaves: “Everyone understands that they (enclaves.— “b”) are formed, they are in Moscow, the Moscow region, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk. They are practically everywhere. Not only we, but all authorities, including the Security Council, have taken care of this.” He is sure that employers who actively use the labor force of migrants, but hire them through intermediary agencies, without formalizing labor contracts, are responsible for the formation of enclaves. According to him, a bill has already been developed that establishes the responsibility of employers for the fate of foreign workers:

“There will be no intermediaries. An employer who invites a migrant to work should be responsible for him – so that the employee lives in normal conditions, and at the end of the contract he receives money and goes to his home.

Mr. Kabanov explained to Kommersant that the HRC had been developing the initiative for two years; it is planned to be submitted to the State Duma in the autumn session.

“It all makes no sense as long as visa-free entry is in effect in Russia,” migration expert Vyacheslav Postavnin commented on the initiative to Kommersant. “This is possible only with the introduction of a visa regime, which is unlikely in the current situation.”

At a press conference, members of the HRC again mentioned the possible introduction of quotas for the number of foreigners working in Russia. Mr. Fadeev is confident that a possible consequence – a reduction in the number of labor migrants – should not affect the economy: “They say that without migrants, the Russian economy cannot grow. But there are migrants, and the economy is not particularly growing. Why don’t we try to organize a recruiting system in regions with high unemployment? Marina Akhmedova noted that problems with jobs due to the number of migrants have also spread to new Russian territories. According to her, the Russians, including those who recently received citizenship, wanted to take part in the construction in Mariupol. But the developers “came with their teams” formed from migrants. This, she says, provokes social tension.

Valery Fadeev also called for a radical change in the legislation in the field of education.

“It is unacceptable that children who do not know Russian are admitted to schools. Our proposal – and it is supported – such children should be pre-trained in special centers. Children who do not know Russian cannot be admitted to school; the law must require their education in a special center. As far as I know, the Ministry of Education is working on this,” he said.

Vyacheslav Postavnin believes that the Russian side should deal with the issues of teaching the children of foreigners – after all, in the countries where the migrants came from, there are simply no opportunities for learning the language. “The best integration goes through kindergarten and school,” says the expert. “Returning from educational institutions, they teach the Russian language to their parents.” According to the expert, “the proposals of the HRC sound completely unprofessional” and it is not clear to him why the council has recently often spoken out on the topic of migration legislation.

Recall, this week the party “Fair Russia – For Truth” spoke about the problem of Russian language proficiency among migrant children. In particular, the deputies proposed to Minister of Education Sergei Kravtsov to disperse children who do not speak Russian well and set a limit for them – no more than 10% of the total number of the class. Svetlana Gannushkina, chairwoman of the Civic Assistance Committee (dealing with assistance to migrants; included in the register of foreign agents) (also recognized as a foreign agent) pointed out that such prohibitive initiatives are contrary to Art. 43 of the Constitution: “In our country, everyone not only has the right, but is also obliged to receive an education – there can be no restrictions here.” Ms. Gannushkina is sure that the children of migrants need to study together with Russian-speaking peers: “Thus, everyone will be in the black: the adaptation of non-Russian-speaking students will be much faster, and they will easily catch up with their peers. The rest of the guys will be able to expand their knowledge of other cultures and understand that the world is not monotonous.”

Emilia Gabdullina