ArmInfo. Russia should increase monitoring of labor migrants' conduct, rather then implementing a visa regime against them, as stated by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during government hour in the State Duma.
"We acknowledge the need to enhance monitoring of their conduct. However, we are not in favor of imposing restrictions, let alone introducing a visa regime. While additional measures are being implemented compared to the previous system, they are primarily focused on strengthening control, rather than hindering labor migration," Lavrov said, in response to a question from parliamentarians about a possible change in approaches to migrants. The minister generally expressed confidence that "any stricter measures towards labor migrants from Central Asian countries, primarily Transcaucasia, and other former republics, will not benefit long-term interests."
"Yes, of course, order must be maintained. Many violations have been recorded in several geographical regions from which migrants come," the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry admitted, TASS reports. He also noted that the Russian side had held several special meetings with ambassadors of the Eurasian Economic Community member countries. "We answered their questions in detail and explained the logic that guides us. Indeed, the fundamental documents on the creation of the EAEU state that citizens of all member countries have equal rights: they can come without any invitations, do not need to confirm where they will work, and so on. However, it may be necessary to specify these rules now," he explained.