Russia increases recruitment of foreign migrant workers

Russia has recently increased the issuance of military service orders to newly naturalized foreign workers, apparently to supplement forces for the battlefield in Ukraine.

Russian police have stepped up checks in recent weeks in several cities, screening hundreds of migrant workers, mainly from Central Asia. The operation appears to be aimed primarily at men who have recently acquired Russian citizenship but have not yet completed mandatory military service.

During inspections and searches, police hand out draft notices to migrant workers on the spot, or take them to military recruitment offices to register.

Under Russian law, naturalized male immigrants are obliged to register with the draft board, ready to join the army in case Moscow mobilizes them. However, these are not the only people targeted in the crackdown, according to Valentina Chupik, a lawyer who specializes in legal advice for immigrants in Russia.

Russian officials hand out military draft orders to migrant workers in Chelyabinsk. Photo: 31tv.ru

"It's not just people who are already Russian citizens who have to register for military service. They force everyone who is taken to the police station after each raid to sign a military service contract," Chupik said, adding that many of her clients said they were pressured to sign a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense when they went through the required residency procedures.

According to an intelligence report released by the British Ministry of Defense on September 5, the Russian military is increasingly recruiting immigrants from Central Asia and neighboring countries to supplement its military campaign in Ukraine. "There are at least 6 million immigrants from Central Asia in Russia and the Kremlin sees them as potential recruits," the agency said.

Since launching its military campaign in Ukraine, Russia has enacted a number of laws aimed at encouraging immigrants to enlist. President Vladimir Putin signed a decree in May simplifying the naturalization process for foreign citizens who agreed to serve in the Russian military during the conflict in Ukraine.

The British Ministry of Defense said Russia’s aim was to avoid a military mobilisation before next year’s elections. Moscow last September called up more than 300,000 troops from its reserves to bolster its military campaign in Ukraine. The mobilisation represents more than 1% of Russia’s total mobilisation potential of 25 million.

Russia's mobile military recruitment center in Rostov-on-Don on September 17, 2022. Photo: Reuters

Mr Putin said in June that Russia had no plans to impose another round of military mobilization. Deputy head of Russia's Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said last week that 280,000 people had signed contracts to join the Russian army since the start of the year, some of them reservists and volunteers.

"Mobilizing newly naturalized migrant workers allows Russia to replenish its military manpower in the face of growing setbacks on the battlefield, without having to issue a call-up order," the British Ministry of Defense said.

Russia on September 6 confirmed a “tactical retreat” from Rabotino, a strategic village that occupies a key position on Russia’s first line of defense in Zaporizhzhia, more than a week after Ukraine declared control of the village. This is considered a major victory for Kiev, helping the Ukrainian army open an important route to attack further south, aiming to cut off Russia’s land corridor connecting the Crimean peninsula with the Donbass region.

However, Ukraine's counter-offensive progress is still considered slow by experts, because Russia has prepared a dense network of defense lines and deployed combat forces to deal with it. President Putin declared on September 5 that Ukraine's counter-offensive campaign "has failed", while the Russian Defense Ministry said that Ukraine lost more than 5,600 soldiers in just the previous week.

Russian reservists from Rostov leave for Ukraine in late 2022. Photo: Reuters

According to the British Ministry of Defense, in addition to immigrants, Russia has also increased the recruitment of mercenaries from neighboring countries such as Armenia and Kazakhstan, pledging to pay a monthly salary of 190,000 rubles (nearly 2,000 USD) and a "bribe" of 495,000 rubles (more than 5,000 USD), much higher than the average salary.

Russia has not commented on the information, but has said British intelligence reports are false.

Russia 's economy has long relied on a migrant workforce that is willing to take low-paid jobs that are rarely filled by locals, such as construction workers, fruit vendors and street cleaners.

Russia has witnessed a "bleeding" of migrant workers during the Covid-19 period, when more than 5 million people, equivalent to half of the number of immigrants in Russia, left the country due to the impact of the epidemic.

The number of migrants leaving Russia has continued to rise sharply following Moscow's campaign in Ukraine and Western sanctions. Russian government statistics show that about 4 million migrants came to Russia to work in 2022.

However, the flow of immigrants to Russia is decreasing, due to the sharp depreciation of the ruble. Experts say that the increased recruitment of immigrants by the Russian army, combined with the weakening of the economy due to the impact of sanctions, will cause the number of foreign workers in Russia to continue to decline in the coming time.

"Sending money home is already difficult, while incomes are no longer what they used to be, so the number of immigrants is decreasing, it is inevitable," said Temur Umarov, an expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Pham Giang (According to Moscow Times, SCMP, Newsweek )

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