"The problem of migrants is used during the campaign of mayoral elections in Moscow, because that problem is extremely popular in Russia", Alexander Iskandaryan, Director of the Caucasus Institute, said during the Aug 29 debates entitled "The Migrants in Russia: Legislation, Discourses and Political Practice". Iskandaryan thinks that xenophobia and interethnic scuffles will keep on growing in Russia.
"Though Russia displays a more or less loyal attitude to Georgians and Armenians, that loyalty is displayed by a certain part of Russian people. The aggressive part of the Russian society does not take into account the nationality of the migrants. When the dark-haired migrants are beaten in Russia, they are not asked to show their passports or cross on the chain", stressed the expert. He said that the negative attitude to the migrants in Russia is nothing new but it is not a general phobia, because Russian people display a negative attitude to certain groups of migrants.