Russian authorities intend to change their approach to defining migration policy
The decision to create such a commission was made on May 18, when at a meeting of the government presidium, representatives of the Federal Migration Service (FMS) presented a draft of the relevant resolution. At the end of that meeting, the prime minister instructed the migration agency to prepare a directive on the membership of the commission. However, this list has not yet been published on the official government website. Also, despite reports that the creation of a new coordinating body is a done deal, the FMS has not yet commented on the prime minister's decision.
At the same time, it is known that the agency of Konstantin Romodanovsky will be tasked with preparing draft documents for the commission and providing organizational support for its work. There is no doubt that the FMS will readily take up the implementation of the prime minister's order. It will be much more difficult to achieve what the new structure was created for, namely "to develop measures to protect Russia's strategic interests and provide the country with labor resources taking into account the actual demographic situation and established international relations." To carry out the "certain adjustment of state migration policy" mentioned in the resolution, it is necessary to coordinate many positions – to bring to a common denominator the points of view of the FMS, the Ministry of Health and Social Development, law enforcement agencies and other interested ministries and departments, as well as regional heads and employer representatives.
In particular, this concerns such a delicate issue as determining the size of quotas for attracting migrant workers. It is worth recalling that, for example, Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov insists on the maximum possible reduction in the number of labor migrants in Moscow, and this does not always align with business demands. The FMS, for its part, cites data that during the crisis, the Russian labor market does not need such a large number of foreign workers – according to Deputy Head of the Migration Service Mikhail Tyurkin, 100,000 migrant workers have lost their jobs since the beginning of the year. Law enforcement officials, emphasizing that unemployed "guests from abroad" represent a breeding ground for crime, demand stricter state oversight of migration flows and accuse the migration agency of being unable to keep track of illegal migrants. For example, on May 21, the head of the Investigative Committee under the Prosecutor General's Office, Alexander Bastrykin, speaking at a meeting in the Federation Council dedicated to illegal immigration, stated that employees of some regional FMS offices themselves often organize illegal entry of migrants into Russia.
The emergence of an interdepartmental "commission on migrant workers" indicates that the state intends not only to change the approach to defining migration policy, but also to update its legal framework. As follows from the government resolution, one of the functions of the newly created structure will be to prepare draft improvements to legislation on migrants.
"I believe that the creation of such a coordinating body is absolutely necessary," Svetlana Gannushkina, chair of the committee "Civil Assistance," told Vremya Novostei. She recalled that the structure that currently regulates the situation of migrants – the Federal Migration Service – is under the Ministry of Internal Affairs, "and the Ministry of Internal Affairs still solves quite specific problems." "If in the field of combating illegal immigration the Ministry of Internal Affairs can still develop its own policy, then in all other areas related to migration issues, this ministry is completely incompetent," Svetlana Gannushkina explained her position. Therefore, the newspaper's interlocutor emphasizes, it is necessary to unite the work of various ministries and departments, and it is imperative to involve public representatives in the process of developing migration policy.
The head of "Civil Assistance" expressed hope that this would be the case, given that the very idea of creating an interdepartmental commission on migrant problems was voiced by human rights activists during a meeting with President Dmitry Medvedev in April of this year.