The State Duma is waiting for the re-establishment of the Ministry of Nationalities and the Federal Migration Service – Kommersant

The head of the State Duma Committee on Nationalities Affairs Gennady Semigin (“A Just Russia – For Truth”) predicts the re-establishment of the Ministry of National Policy in Russia (existed in the 1990s) and advocates the restoration of the Federal Migration Service (abolished in 2016, powers transferred to the Ministry of Internal Affairs). Mr. Semigin expressed this and other initiatives at a press conference on Monday.

The national theme has again become especially relevant in connection with the recent terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall, one of the main goals of which, the deputy is sure, was to incite interethnic and interfaith hatred in Russia. This poses a number of specific tasks for the Russian authorities in the field of migration control, the head of the committee explained, for example, it is necessary to maintain databases of migrants with their brief biography, introduce biometric control and tests for knowledge of the Russian language, and also require new arrivals to open a bank account for income in Russia .

To implement these measures, it is necessary to develop a package of regulatory bills and update the National Policy Concept, said Gennady Semigin: “The most important thing is who will do it. We propose to recreate the Federal Migration Service, which will deal with all issues of migration policy. It is necessary to create a Ministry of National Policy, and I think that it will be created.” The revived FMS, according to the deputy, should be subordinated to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the newly established Ministry of Nationalities or “someone directly, for example, the Prime Minister.”

Mr. Semigin also admitted that anti-migrant sentiments are “strong and growing” in Russian society, since “the state does not regulate” the migration process, and the newcomers themselves “behave provocatively.” “The number of crimes is growing, it is impossible to adapt: ​​complete anarchy,” complained the head of the relevant committee. “Of course, with elements of some kind of state action, they cannot be denied.” If the situation does not change, then it will be very difficult to “retain citizens,” the deputy warned: “If this happens, we will get a colossal interethnic conflict, which is what the West is striving for together with Ukraine.”

Grigory Leiba