05/27/2024 – Translated from Ukrainian via Google and OFP

After the terrorist attack in the Crocus City Hall near Moscow, which was carried out by migrants from Central Asia, there was a colossal surge of xenophobia in the Russian Federation. The Russian authorities also added fuel to the fire, seeing in such sentiments a chance to distract citizens from pressing problems. But whether it will be possible to keep the situation under control is a big question, since it is getting worse every day.

Wave of migrant phobia

What began in Russia after the terrorist attack in Crocus cannot be called anything other than a “witch hunt.” Both the security forces and ordinary Russians began to take it out on the migrants to the fullest.

According to human rights activist Valentina Chupik, she personally received more than 8.5 thousand complaints about beatings, illegal detentions and expulsion from the territory of the Russian Federation, detention in inhumane conditions in departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and special detention centers. The majority of complaints came from citizens of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.

According to the human rights activist, xenophobic sentiments are growing in society at the instigation of the authorities. “We see many statements by Russian officials and so-called law enforcement agencies that incite migrant phobia out of nowhere. Their goal is to distract people’s attention from the real problem, to divert attention from the fact that the terrorist attack was at least ignored, and perhaps even deliberately allowed to happen. The goal is to switch aggression from the authorities to a obviously weak group that is “easy to defeat” and which is clearly alien and the opportunity to rob with impunity,” she told Vestka.

Just a few examples : a man attacked a Kyrgyzstani woman in Moscow, beat her and demanded that migrants “get out of Russia.” In the Novosibirsk region, several residents from the “Russian People’s Squad” conducted a raid under the slogan “You can wear a hijab in the village, but not in Russia!”, demanding the dismissal of employees wearing hijab. And in St. Petersburg, two schoolchildren beat a classmate – a citizen of Tajikistan – in front of the teacher, who did not even try to separate the children. In the Moscow metro, a crowd surrounded a resident of Yakutia with insane shouts of “Russia for Russians!”

The authorities are tightening the screws

In April, the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs completed work on a bill that proposes limiting the period of stay of foreigners in the Russian Federation without a visa to 90 days a year and obliging them to submit biometric data. The ministry also proposed creating digital profiles of foreigners and a register of employers and foreign workers.

In addition, citizens of other countries were offered to issue a single document proving their identity. According to the bill, not only courts, but also executive authorities will be able to expel foreigners from Russia. That is, even the illusion of legality will be absent.

In a number of regions of the Russian Federation, restrictions have already been introduced on the types of labor activities that migrants can engage in. For example, in the Saratov region, from May 1, foreigners were banned from working in the field of transporting passengers in urban and suburban transport, in the taxi industry, as well as in trade and preparation of food and drinks. Governor Busargin said that the decision “is aimed at increasing the level of security in key areas of public life and respecting the legal rights of citizens.”

“Checks” on the borders with Russia have also become tougher. For example, more than a thousand citizens of Tajikistan were demonstrably detained at Moscow airports in terrible conditions and without food. Moreover, among those detained were students who study in Russia under educational quotas of the Russian government.

Street “hunting”

Since April, raids on migrants have been taking place almost throughout Russia, and now there is a new round. Heavily armed security forces conduct raids on markets, catering establishments, etc.

For example, the other day the National Guard raided the nightclubs of Rostov-on-Don and the agricultural fair in the Lenin farm in the Aksai district.

363 people of “non-Slavic appearance” were subjected to a thorough check, among whom were both foreign and naturalized (received Russian citizenship) citizens. 44 people were taken to military commissariats “for military registration.” And in Astrakhan they decided to scour the hotels. Guests of the city were shocked by the visit of security forces directly to their rooms.

On May 24, in the Moscow region, police and representatives of the Lyubertsy military registration and enlistment office conducted a raid on a mosque during prayer. All the men were taken out of the building, herded into five buses and taken to the military registration and enlistment office.

According to eyewitnesses, all migrants with a Russian passport who were not registered with the military were taken away. Personnel files were opened for men of military age, they underwent a fictitious medical examination in an hour, and on the same day they were sent to a collection point, and then to military units.

Only a few days may pass before being sent to a criminal war with Ukraine. And migrants from Central Asia are increasingly being spotted at the front.

One of the latest examples is citizen of Kyrgyzstan Alisir Tursunov. The 56-year-old migrant was kidnapped by Russian security forces right on the street in Ryazan during one of the raids. A native of the city of Osh was put in a “monkey barn” and was given neither food nor water for several days. Then the man, who had little understanding of what was happening, was taken to the military registration and enlistment office, where he was forced to sign a contract with the Russian Armed Forces, which he could not even read.

On the front line, Alisir was destined for the fate of cannon fodder, whom the Russian army sent on suicidal assaults, setting up barrage detachments. Realizing this, he surrendered to the Ukrainian Armed Forces at the first convenient opportunity.

https://news.obozrevatel.com/russia/v-rossii-nachalsya-novyij-vitok-oblav-na-migrantov-ih-otpravlyayut-na-vojnu-v-ukraine.htm