Izvestia: "Higher fines for residents without registration"
Vladimir Putin attended an expanded meeting of the Board of the Federal Migration Service (FMS), where he spoke about measures to toughen domestic and foreign migration rules. The prime minister suggested addressing the issue of illegal immigrant workers by toughening penalties for violating immigration rules. The same measures are also being proposed for domestic migration, where a criminal penalty will be introduced not for illegal residents, but for the owners of so-called rubber apartments, that on paper become the official residence for hundreds of people. The penalties would also apply to any official who allows this.
"In some bigger cities, people stay home during certain holidays. This is serious," Putin described his friends' complaints regarding the immigration situation. "People have well-justified grievances about the quality of the law and law enforcement."
On Monday, in his article, Putin said tougher penalties for registration violations are a necessary measure. This raised many questions, including whether any new penalties would apply to ordinary citizens who move to another city and are unable to register. At the meeting Putin clarified that the criminal penalty would apply only to the owners of the apartments, who get money for registering numerous migrants there, as well as to the officials who are bribed to turn a blind eye to these violations.
Nevertheless, people who move from other cities should officially register at the local migration office. The prime minister's spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told Izvestia, that penalties will become tougher for them as well. They will not face the criminal penalty, but the sum of the administrative fine will increase.
"We will toughen the penalties. But we will use a differentiated approach," Peskov told Izvestia. "Tougher penalties are necessary to ensure the strict observance of registration rules. However it has not yet been decided how we are going to toughen the penalties."
Illegal immigrant workers, however, will not be treated with the same deference. The prime minister suggested refusing entry to Russia for five to ten years to those who have repeatedly violated immigration laws. The criminal penalty would also apply to those who help illegal immigrants come to Russia, provide them with places to stay and let them work without registering.
"We'll have to introduce criminal penalties as many deported illegal workers simply come back after awhile. If they know they'll go to prison when they come back they'll think twice," said Putin. "This is the main reason we are introducing tougher rules. We don't do this 'to detain or imprison anyone,' but to restore order. Of course, we should not burn the house down to scare away the mice. We need to consider this matter from a professional perspective."
Putin suggested being more selective in choosing which immigrant workers enter Russia and accepting only those who speak at least basic Russian and are familiar with Russian culture and local traditions. For this purpose it is necessary to establish pre-immigration preparation centres in countries with the largest immigration flows, which would provide professional training and Russian lessons. After immigrant workers arrive in Russia, we should test their knowledge of the Russian language, history and legislature.
Before the meeting the head of the Federal Migration Service, Konstantin Romodanovsky, showed Putin an interactive migration map, which displayed real-time data for migration patterns. The darker the colour on the map, the more immigrants there are. However the colour doesn't indicate the total number of immigrants, but rather the proportion of immigrants to the number of Russian citizens. So Kamchatka, as a region with low population density, is shown as heavily populated by foreign residents.
The map displays the percentage of migrants in Russian regions, as well as in Moscow districts. Izmailovo and Obruchevsky districts stood out on the map because of the large number of Chinese citizens staying at the Izmailovo Hotel and the numerous students at Peoples' Friendship University of Russia. Most immigrants come from Uzbekistan and Ukraine. Some Ukrainians have found an income tax loophole: they come to Russia for 30 days, the maximum period when they don't have to register, then return home for a couple of days, and then come back again to earn money.
Pavel Baranov, Anastasia Novikova
