The State Duma postponed simplification of employment of Armenian citizens as drivers
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The State Duma has frozen a bill that would allow Armenian citizens without Russian licenses to be hired as bus, truck and taxi drivers. This possibility was included in government amendments adopted in the first reading more than a year ago. On Tuesday, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said that the project should be postponed because Armenia has not made Russian the state language, and this is the main condition for introducing “preferences” for drivers from neighboring countries.
Voiced by Mr. Volodin solution concerns government amendments to the law “On Road Safety”, submitted to the State Duma back in April 2022. Let us remind you that companies are prohibited from hiring drivers with foreign licenses (to drive buses, trucks and taxis), but for citizens of Kyrgyzstan and countries where Russian is the official language (Belarus, Kazakhstan, Abkhazia, South Ossetia), an exception applies to it it was proposed to add Armenia. In June 2022, the bill was adopted in the first reading. “Citizens of all member states of the Eurasian Economic Union will have equal rights, the level of integration of our states will increase, the transport sector will receive additional opportunities to attract qualified personnel,” explained Deputy Interior Minister Igor Zubov, who presented the amendments at the time. The amendments were supported by a number of regions and were preparing for adoption in the second reading this spring.
However, on Tuesday, at the beginning of the plenary meeting of the State Duma, the head of the Duma Committee on Transport Evgeny Moskvichev proposed to suspend consideration of the document (there was no such issue on the agenda), citing the fact that it “currently does not correspond to the interests of Russia.” “In fact, it is proposed to give Armenia additional preferences, despite the fact that the deputies of the republic and the leadership have not taken any steps to consolidate the status of the Russian language,” he supported Vyacheslav Volodin.—It is on this basis that we decide to allow the use of national driver’s licenses of other countries on the territory of Russia. We made such decisions in relation to Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, since the Russian language is constitutionally enshrined in them. As for Armenia, we see: there is no status for the Russian language, the latest decisions are not at all aimed at developing relations in this area.”
According to the Scientific Center for Road Safety of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, in the six months of 2023, 141 road accidents were caused by drivers from Armenia (10% less than in the same period last year) with 23 dead and 176 injured.
The majority of commercial transportation involving Armenian citizens is concentrated in the southern regions – the Krasnodar Territory, the Rostov Region, Alexander Lytkin, chief expert of the National Expert Council for Driver Training and Testing, told Kommersant: the majority of these drivers have long since changed their licenses to Russian ones.
Moreover, the exchange process is simple, the expert notes: it is enough to pass the exams at the traffic police.
“Rejection of the bill will not complicate the life of carriers in any way, since Armenian citizens well understand our laws and principles, are well integrated into the culture of Russia, know the language and rules of doing business in Russia,” says Danil Skachkov, commercial director of Gruzonosoff LLC (Krasnodar Territory). .- And competent personnel are needed in any field, especially now.”
In the Moscow region, only holders of Russian licenses work as public transport drivers, Kommersant was assured by Mostransavto near Moscow. “Considering that out of 9.3 thousand of our drivers there are only 10 from Armenia, this bill does not complicate our operational activities,” the company said. “In addition, 296 citizens of Kyrgyzstan, 103 citizens of Tajikistan, 85 people from Uzbekistan work in our branches , 59 people from other CIS countries, as well as directly from the Moscow region.” The capital’s Mosgortrans also told Kommersant that they only employ drivers with Russian licenses: “The decision to postpone consideration of the bill on the recognition of national driver’s licenses of Armenian citizens will not affect the work of the State Unitary Enterprise.”
For Armenia, until recently, the recognition of their national driver’s license was a truly “sore issue” – local drivers constantly asked the government of the republic to “push through” the relevant decision, Stanislav Schwagerus, head of the competence center of the International Eurasian Taxi Forum, told Kommersant. “Now this is unlikely to happen in the near future,” he says. “But in the industry as a whole, there are relatively few drivers from Armenia.” In Moscow, according to the KIS ART taxi analytics system, as of August 1, 898 drivers from Armenia were registered. There are significantly more drivers from Kyrgyzstan – 79.3 thousand, followed by a significant margin by Tajikistan (7.2 thousand) and Uzbekistan (4.9 thousand).
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