Zatulin quipped about serfdom for migrants

“All migrants coming to our country must respect Russian laws and traditions, but the rights of visitors must also be respected,” Vladimir Putin said at a meeting of the Human Rights Council on Monday. Meanwhile, a split has emerged in the expert community and the parliamentary environment. While some are calling for migrants to be treated as harshly as possible and to be allowed into the country only when absolutely necessary, others are confident that the Russian economy will not survive without foreign labor.

Even if we could build another Kizhi ourselves, we would definitely fail the exam on preparing shawarma.

At a meeting with members of the Human Rights Council, Putin noted that the migrant issue is caused by a shortage of workers and economic interests.

“But these people need to be trained,” the president emphasized. “We need to attract such labor resources, which must be prepared from a linguistic point of view, ethnocultural, must know our traditions and laws – and respect them.”

Member of the HRC Kirill Kabanov in a conversation with MK, he complained about the lack of a real economic justification for the number of labor migrants in the country. Yes, there are quotas from the Ministry of Labor. But their officials are given by business, the human rights activist noted.

“We have repeatedly asked the Ministry of Labor to provide us with an economic justification for quotas, but we have received nothing,” said Kabanov.

The expert believes that the basis for a labor migrant’s stay in Russia should be his complete control. If a particular business needs a worker, let it invite him, sign a contract and not allow the employee to be transferred to another job. The contract has expired – the migrant must leave for his homeland. And so that the foreigner does not bring any families with him.

70% of visitors become invisible to the tax authorities, Kabanov emphasized. Migrants cross the border, declare work as the purpose of their visit, and then disappear into thin air. Some of these people work under gray schemes, some do not work at all.

As for the level of knowledge of visitors, only those who know the Russian language and Russian laws should be accepted into Russia, Kabanov is sure.

– But they need to be taught not here, but there, in their homeland. Otherwise, a migrant with a low level of knowledge will become an easy prey for ethnic criminal gangs, the expert said.

The “pass” exam in the Russian language, according to Kabanov, has lost its original filter function and turned into a highly profitable criminal business.

It is also necessary to tighten the regime for the stay of migrants in Russia, believes Kirill Kabanov. Earlier, the leader of the party “A Just Russia – For Truth” Sergei Mironov proposed two options for strengthening control over visitors. The first is the introduction of a visa regime with the countries of Central Asia. The second is the expulsion of families of migrants who have committed a crime on Russian territory.

The expert said that a similar initiative has already been submitted to the State Duma. It involves depriving foreigners of Russian citizenship who have received it illegally. For example, if a foreigner bought a certificate of passing a Russian language exam, and then, when receiving a passport, cannot even read the oath.

Kabanov also recalled that the basis for the deportation of a migrant who is not a citizen of the Russian Federation will be considered a violation of the terms of the loyalty agreement, which is currently being worked out.

Special Representative of the State Duma on Migration and Citizenship Issues Konstantin ZatulinOn the contrary, I am sure that the Russian economy now cannot manage without foreign labor.

“Migrants do work that our fellow citizens are not ready to do,” said the MK deputy. “It would be better to be able to do everything ourselves, with our own hands.” When we say that we cannot do without migrants today, we are proceeding from reality.

The deputy also noted that not all technologies are equally mastered by Russians and citizens of other countries.

– If you need to build a temple made of timber without a single nail, as in Kizhi, you are unlikely to call a migrant from Central Asia. He will not cope with this work as well as a citizen of Russia. But in preparing shawarma, a resident of Central Asia will outperform a Russian, Zatulin gave an example and emphasized that the decisive factor is not the number of migrants, but the competent distribution of labor across sectors of the economy.

The parliamentarian stressed that the impossibility of doing without migrants does not cause delight. But the wave of anti-migrant sentiment and the proposal to introduce visas for Central Asian countries threaten much more serious consequences for the Russian economy and politics.

– The countries with which we are building integration, for example, through the EurAsEC, already say that they will comply with Western anti-Russian sanctions. Introducing visas means widening the gap between us, the deputy is sure.

At the same time, Zatulin emphasized: migrants are required to know Russian. Russian schools abroad should be at the forefront here. For certain professions, ignorance of Russian may well become a factor in the ban on work.

But the idea of ​​introducing something like mutual responsibility with the expulsion of migrants by entire families aroused indignation among the special representative of the State Duma. He called such radical measures odious, with far-reaching negative consequences.

“Let’s also introduce serfdom for migrants,” Zatulin was indignant. “We are not the only ones on the planet and should be interested in being treated well in our neighboring countries.” Such initiatives will cause nothing but rejection from Russia.