a wary welcome: varying reception of migrants in russian cities
TRANSCRIPT
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A WARY WELCOME:Varying Reception of Migrants
in Russian Cities
Mary Elizabeth Malinkin
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WOODROW WILSON INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR SCHOLARS
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tion, Susan Hutchison, Frank F. Islam, Willem Kooyker, Linda B. & Tobia G. Mercuro,
Dr. Alexander V. Mirtchev, Wayne Rogers, Leo Zickler
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A WARY WELCOME:
Varying Reception of Migrants
in Russian Cities
Mary Elizabeth Malinkin
2013 Woodrow Wilson International Center or Scholars, Washington, D.C.www.wilsoncenter.org
Cover Photograph: Shutterstock Images
ISBN: 978-1-938027-18-5
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Preface 7
Introduction 8
Overview of International Migration in Russia 11
Xenophobia and Racism 13
Migrants and Social Norms 14
The Role of the Media 15
Regional Variations in How Migrants Are Received 17
Krasnodar 17
Ekaterinburg 21
Nizhnyi Novgorod 25
Conclusions 30
Notes 32
About the Author 38
CONTENTS
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7A WARY WELCOME: Varying Reception of Migrants in Russian Cities
Preface
This paper is a version o a lecture I gave at Hamburg University on
December 14, 2011 or a series titled Narratives o Nomadism, or-
ganized by Monica Ruethers and Beata Wagner-Nagy. I would like
to thank them again or including me in such a creative lecture series, which
has inspired me to look at migration in broader terms.
The research or the lecture emerged rom a project titled People, Power,
and Conict in the Eurasian Migration System, unded by the National
Science Foundation (NSF award 0904817) and headed by Cynthia Buckley,
proessor o sociology, University o Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. I would
like to express my deep gratitude to Blair A. Ruble, ormer director o the
Kennan Institute and co-principal investigator or the project, and Cynthia
Buckley, or their invaluable guidance and comments on many drats as I
prepared or the Narratives o Nomadism talk. William Bird read several
versions o the paper, and I am grateul or his thoughtul editorial advice.
I would also like to thank Oliver Bevan, Timothy Heleniak, Erin Homann,
Irina Kuzemkina, Igor Kuznetsov, Beth Mitchneck, and Everett Peachey ortheir research contributions, without which I would not have been able to
compare the three cities discussed herein. Anastasia Pleshakova and Natalia
Vlasova were instrumental in obtaining access to a wide range o interviews
in Ekaterinburg in September 2011, or which I am in their debt.
Finally, I would like to thank Blair Ruble or his encouragement to pub-
lish the lecture as part o the Eurasian Migration Papers series.
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8 EURASIAN MIGRATION PAPERS
Introduction
Gde rodilsia, tam i prigodilsiaessentially, The place where one
was born is where one belongs. This is a Russian proverb I have
heard many times in conversations with Russians. Russia has a long
history o citizens being tied to their hometown, village, or city, sometimes
by choice, and other times by restrictions on movement. Historically, a large
part o the population was bound to the land as sers until the mid-1800s. In
addition, as early as the 16th century, an internal passport system and limited
permits or city residents were used in Imperial Russia.1 Under Soviet rule,
internal passports and residence permits (propiska) reected the attempt o the
state to manage population movement, with a ocus on the most efcient use
o labor. Throughout Russian history a series o administrative policies have
reinorced the atalistic expression, Gde rodilsia, tam i prigodilsia.
In the post-Soviet period, there is evidence o both continuity and
change. Russias new constitution (1993) recognized the reedom o move-
ment as well as the right to emigrate or all citizens.2 At the same time,
several actors limited de actomobility within the country: the mandatorysystem o registering where one works, access to social services being linked
to ones permanent place o residence and registration, a poorly developed
and very expensive housing market, lack o recruitment and employment
agencies, and discrimination toward people o non-Slavic ethnicity. This last
actor aects the Northern Caucasus in particular, which has a high percent-
age o non-Slavic ethnicities and is currently the only region in Russia with
a laborsurplus.3
Even with ofcial restrictions on movement removed, many barriers tomoving within Russia remain. The migration that has taken place within
Russia since the end o the Soviet period has largely been rom the north and
Siberia into central Russia as illustrated in the map on Figure 1. 4
For the cities in central Russia, which have a generally immobile native
population, the inux o native Russians rom other regions and a steady ow
o international labor migrants over the last 20 years have caused consider-
able tension. Such circumstances are similar to those in Europe where the
concept o nomadism has been used to exclude certain groups rom inte-
gration. Nomadism has been constructed in the political discourse in Europe
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9A WARY WELCOME: Varying Reception of Migrants in Russian Cities
as a potentially dangerous phenomenon and in direct opposition to the im-
plicit norm o sedentariness. A very similar discourse is currently underway
in Russia as well.
Regardless o what the implicit norm might be, the reality is that Russia
has the second largest number o international migrants in the world, sur-
passed only by the United States. Understanding how migrants are perceived
and have been integrating in Russian cities is relevant to the United States
as well. Russia and the United States are conronting many o the same chal-
lenges as major migrant destinations: rising unemployment related to global
economic recession, changing local labor markets due to the globalized econ-
omy, increased populist and nationalist rhetoric, and a history o racism and
xenophobia that can easily rise to the surace under tense circumstances. It
seems the two countries have much to learn rom each others experiences.
In this paper I highlight the importance o historical context, xenopho-
bia, mass media, and local context in examining the experiences o migrantsin the Russian Federation. These our actors provide unique insights into
FIGURE 1. NET GAIN FROM INTERNAL MIGRATION BY REGION,
1993 TO 2007 (PERCENT OF 1993 POPULATION).
Map by Timothy Heleniak, 2012.
2.0 to 6.0 -5.0 to 0.0 -10.0 to -5.0 -43.7 to -10.06.0 to 10.4 0.0 to 2.0
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10 EURASIAN MIGRATION PAPERS
understanding the patterns o continuity and change related to migration in
Russia. Some o the key questions addressed in this paper include:
How might we determine whether the reception o migrants varies romregion to region in Russia?
Why might the reception o migrants vary?
What actors seem to play a role in whether migrants integrate in a par-
ticular city or region?
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11A WARY WELCOME: Varying Reception of Migrants in Russian Cities
Overview of International Migration in Russia
Since the all o the Soviet Union in 1991, labor demand has con-
tinually increased. Simultaneously, an aging population and rising
mortality rate, particularly among men, make or an ever-shrinking
workorce. The graph in Figure 2 depicts the birth rate, death rate, and
natural population increase in the Russian Federation between 1980 and
2009.
With such demographic trends, the demand or labor in the Russian
Federation is acute. The combination o these actors5 has led to the emer-
gence o Russia as a new migration destination: migrants have opportunities
to earn much higher wages in Russia than they could in their home countries,
and in turn, vacancies in the Russian labor market are flled. Ofcial statistics
reveal substantial growth in some cities (Moscow in particular) despite the
act that the Russian population has been declining or nearly two decades.
Migrants are the primary source o demographic growth or Russian cities
showing population growth or stability since 1991. The Russian Federation is
a major international migration destination, second only to the United Statesin the total number o oreign-born ofcial residents (estimated at 12 million
in 2010) as shown in Figure 3.6
Migrants in Russia accounted or 8.7 percent o the total Russian popu-
lation in 2010, putting Russia among the top 20 countries worldwide in
FIGURE 2. BIRTH RATE, MORTALITY RATE, AND NATURAL POPULATION IN-
CREASE IN RUSSIAN FEDERATION, 19802009.
Source: Demografcheskii ezhegodnik Rossii 2010 (RosStat: Moscow, 2010), Table 2.1.
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12 EURASIAN MIGRATION PAPERS
proportion o oreign-born.7 It is important to note, however, that the ofcial
statistics do not include unregistered residents. Researchers have used vari-
ous methods to calculate the number o unregistered migrants currently in
Russia, and the estimates range rom 4 million to 12 million. In this paper, I
reer only to statistics on registeredmigrants.
Regardless o the actual number o migrants in Russia, the increase in in-
ternational migrants is not the only recent change in Russia, but also shits
in migrants countries o origin, the jobs they hold, and their motivations to
migrate. In the early 1990s, migrants were largely ethnic Russians who were
permanently relocating or returning to Russia rom other ormer Soviet re-
publics,8 as well as Ukrainians and peoples rom the Caucasus. Beginning in
the 2000s, the ethnic composition o the migrant ows changed as more mi-
grants began arriving rom Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Moldova,
ormer Soviet republics with a history o limited international migration.9
Migrants are coming to Russia in growing numbers rom countries beyond
the borders o the ormer Soviet Union as well, in particular rom China
and Vietnam. While these are not newmigration ows or Russia (the Soviet
FIGURE 3.TOP 10 HOST COUNTRIES FOR INTERNATIONAL MIGRANTS
(IN THOUSANDS)
Source: United Nations Department o Economic and Social Aairs, Population Division,
Trends in International Migrant Stock: The 2008 Revision, UN database, 2010.
WORLD: 213,943,812
TOP TEN: 52%
of the worlds total
42,813
12,270
10,758
7,289
7,202
6,685
6,452
6,378
5,436
5,258
United States
Russian Federation
Germany
Saudi Arabia
Canada
France
United Kingdom
Spain
India
Ukraine
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13A WARY WELCOME: Varying Reception of Migrants in Russian Cities
Union had labor exchange agreements with the two countries since the 1950s
and 1970s, respectively), the numbers o migrants have increased.
Although the newly arriving nonethnic Russian migrants remain a smallpercentage o the largely monoethnic Russian cities, their presence aects, and
is aected by, long-standing social structures, and they are oten seen as out-
siders by the local population and as disrupting cultural norms. The 2002
census results indicated that nearly 79.8 percent o the Federations population
was ethnic Russian, with the next largest ethnic group Ukrainians, comprising
10.6 percent o the population.10 Growing migrant populations, particularly
in Russian cities, raise numerous public policy issues related to identity, power
structures, and a citys overall capacity to accommodate diversity. Blair A. Ruble
has argued that cities must develop new modes o operation which expand
the social and economic capital generated by diversity.11 While it is not a new
phenomenon or Russia to receive migrants, the level o migration and the
nature o the society to which todays migrants are moving have changed. How
the Russian ederal government and city administrations address these issues
depends in large part on their appreciation o the positive role that migrants
play in a changing society.
XENOPHOBIA AND RACISM
The social challenges relating to migration in Russia have been met with
various responses at all levels o society, rom the ederal to local city gov-
ernments, public opinion, and the media. While there is notable variation,
most cities have responded to increased international migration with greater
xenophobia as well as a wide range o anti- sentiments. In spite o the sig-
nifcant role played by migrants in Russia, the host population has met the
newcomers with what could be described as a wary welcome at best. Atworst, the migrants are treated as enemy invaders. As Russian philosopher
Vladimir Malakhov wrote, Villages throughout Russia continue to become
extinct, the national economy is short about two and a hal million workers
every year, and yet, instead o developing measures to attract migrants and
help them adapt, the overwhelming dialogue in Russia continues to ocus on
the threats migrants pose to the countrys ethno-cultural security.12 In the
mass media as well as statements by politicians and ofcials, migrants are oten
associated with diverse threats, including crime, terrorism, drugs, and disease.
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Experts show that the rise in xenophobia is not related to the increased
numbers o migrants, but to the ethnicities o the migrants.13 Surveys by the
Levada Center in 2005 showed that negative attitudes directed toward mi-grants rom the Caucasus and Central Asia were common, with the most ex-
treme negative attitudes toward Chechen and Roma migrants, described by
historian Valeri Solovei as the domestic other. The respondents explained
their negative attitudes as being largely due to cultural distance and social
dierences. Solovei, however, argued that the cultural dierences between the
groups were not as important as the phenotypical dierences o the disliked
groups, given that the respondents showed much more positive attitudes to-
wards oreigners who were more similar in appearance, such as Germans or
white Americans. As in migration debates in the United States, xenophobia
and racism are oten at the root o antimigration attitudes.
MIGRANTS AND SOCIAL NORMS
As part o a project titled People, Power, and Conict in the Eurasian
Migration System, unded by the National Science Foundation (NSF award
0904817) and led by Cynthia Buckley, proessor o sociology, University o
Illinois, Urbana-Champaign*, we compared Russian social norms with thevalues and attitudes o the oreign born. As in other key destination countries
or international migration, migrants to Russia are identifed as causing a va-
riety o social ills, presenting core challenges to Russian culture and leading
to long-term changes in social identity.14 We used content analysis o media,
government pronouncements, and public opinion surveys to identiy core
idealized social norms and cultural practices in Russia. Using the frst wave o
the Russian Gender and Generation Survey (2004), we empirically tested or
dierences between oreign- and native-born residents in Russia in terms oadherence to these idealized sociocultural values. Exploring views on gender
roles and childbearing, and attitudes toward elder care, religion, and the use o
Russian language, we ound that the oreign-born display signifcantly greater
adherence to idealized norms, especially the importance o the amily and
religious participation than the native-born, but the eects vary by country
or region o origin. The results are summarized in Table 1.
* Buckley and Malinkin, Fitting in or Setting the Standards? Nativity and Adherence
to Idealized Social Norms in the Russian Federation. Forthcoming.
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Our results highlighted the disjuncture between oten-politicized ears
about immigration and the sociocultural attitudes and practices o the oreign-
born. They also support the theory that it is perceived phenotypical and racial
dierences that evoke the ire o local residents rather than cultural dierences
as oten claimed. We ound that the cultural threats oten attributed to migrants
are not linked to core social values in the Russian Federation; but rather the
otherness is driven, perhaps, by xenophobia. This ear o the other is a long-standing issue in Russia, but more recently has been anned by mass media.
THE ROLE OF THE MEDIA
Ater a nationally publicized ethnic conict in 2006 in Kondopoga, a small
city in the Republic o Kareliia (northwestern Russia), the word migrant
began to be used more and more requently in the language o hate.15 A skir-
mish between Russians and Azeris escalated to an armed conict between
Chechens and Russians in which two Russians were killed. In reaction, the
TABLE I. ADHERENCE TO IDEALIZED NORMS, RUSSIAN GENDER AND
GENERATIONS SURVEY, 2004, BY NATIVITY AND REGION OF ORIGIN (%)
Native
(N=9190)
Slavic
(N=1111)
Kazakhstan
(N=274)
CentralAsia
(N=292)
Caucasus
(N=164)
Other
(N=230)
Housework is
as valuable as
paid work
10.5 10.0 10.7 8.8 15.3 12.2
Women need
children/
ulfllment
25.0 28.2 28.8 28.8 32.5 27.6
Families
should
support elders
36.5 37.8 37.1 36.8 31.3 33.0
Four or more
religious
events/year
16.0 15.1 14.2 18.0 26.2 27.0
Russian
primary
language
91.8 91.1 95.6 92.7 68.0 80.0
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Movement against Illegal Immigration (DPNI) organized a highly publicized
meeting that was ollowed by antimigrant pogroms, arson, and vandalism.
Soon ater the medias coverage o these events, the original meaning o theword migranta person who moves rom one place to anotheracquired
an ethnic dimension in Russia, as in the non-Russian who moves into a
Russian area. Dennis Zuev noted that Etienne Balibars concept o racism
without races is quite applicable to Russia, with the word migrants being
used as a more politically correct euphemism or other races.16 This is just
one example o how the mass media has played a signifcant role in portray-
ing migrants as objects worthy o hatred and the other ueling an antimi-
gration atmosphere.
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Regional Variations in How Migrants Are Received
Having discussed trends and attitudes toward migration in Russia
overall, I will now ocus on the dierences in how migrants are re-
ceived in three regions. Under the auspices o the NSF grant men-
tioned above, our research team studied the experience o migrants in three
Russian cities: Krasnodar, Ekaterinburg, and Nizhnyi Novgorod, which have
high, moderate, and low migration levels, respectively. The three cities were
also chosen to give us a spectrum o three regions o Russia: the Southern,
Urals, and the Volga ederal districts, respectively. In order to better unders-
tand Russias new role as a migrant host and to test existing theories con-
cerning selectivity and integration, we use a multimethod approach or each
city, including demographic assessment, legislative and discourse analysis, and
interviews. The approach also includes ethnosurveys* in the three cities and in
fve sending countries, and social network analysis. In comparing the results
o each o these measures or the three cities, our goal is to identiy the ac-
tors that help or hinder the integration o migrants in Russia. For this paper,
however, I ocus on preliminary fndings rom the legislative and discourseanalysis and interviews in the three cities.
KRASNODAR
Krasnodarthe smallest city in our studyis the seventeenth-largest city
in Russia as o 2010, with a population o 744,933; it has received more
registered migrants than the other two cities, and has been growing rapidly
since the end o the 1990s.17
Krasnodar is the capital o Krasnodar Krai (re-gion), located in the northwest area o the Caucasus, in the Southern ederal
district. Krasnodar Krai borders on both the Black Sea and the Sea o Azov,
* An ethnosurvey is a research design developed by Douglas S. Massey that
incorporates multimethod data compilation, representative multisite sampling,
multilevel data compilation, life history collection, and parallel sampling. See
Massey, The Ethnosurvey in Theory and Practice, International Migration Review
21, no. 4, Special Issue: Measuring International Migration: Theory and Practice(Winter 1987): 1498522.
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providing the territory with key ports. Furthermore, the krai is also the
breadbasket o Russia, with a predominantly agricultural economy.
The city o Krasnodar was originally named Ekaterinodar (EkaterinasGit) at its ounding in 1794. During the expansion o the Russian Empire
to the Caucasus,18 the Cossacks colonized the region (called the Kuban), and
in return Empress Catherine the Great gave them the land.19 Ekaterinodar
became a garrison city, and the majority o the indigenous population (the
Circassians) o the Kuban ed to Turkey, particularly ater the Caucasian War
in 1864.20 Ekaterinodar became the central city or Kuban Cossacks in the
1800s and a signifcant trade center or the southern regions o Russia.21
Fast-orwarding to the modern history o migration in Krasnodar Krai,
during the Soviet period there was signifcant sociopolitical transorma-
tion, and mass migrations changed the composition o the regions popula-
tion again. Ater the Civil War ended (1920), most o the Kuban Cossacks
were exiled because they had ought against the Red Army. It was also at
this time that the citys name was changed to Krasnodar. In the early 1930s,
Bolshevik policies such as dekulakization exiled several Cossack settlements
(approximately 63,000 people or 2 percent o the krais total population) to
the northern and eastern regions o the USSR. Meanwhile, non-Cossacks,
mainly demobilized Red Army soldiers and Russian peasants, along withother ethnic minorities, were resettled in the region. In part because o these
events, Krasnodar had the highest average annual increase in migrants or all
o Russia during the Soviet period.
In the 1990s, Krasnodar Krai was the most popular migrant destination
in Russia, receiving between 3.9 and 5.8 percent o Russias annual migrant
ow. Only in 1998 did the city o Moscow start receiving a greater share
o Russias migrants than Krasnodar. Throughout the decade, Krasnodar
experienced substantial net immigration rom the Commonwealth oIndependent States (the CIS), with all CIS states represented among its mi-
grants. There were eectively no migrants rom arther abroad in the 1990s
with the exception o 250 workers rom Vietnam. The peak o Krasnodar
Krais migration occurred between 1991 and 1993, and the rate began to all
in 1995. Since 1998, natural population decline is no longer being compen-
sated by migration.
The ethnic composition o Krasnodar Krai in the post-Soviet period has
remained relatively stable at about 85 percent ethnic Russians.22 Although a
rather high percentage, it is the lowest among the three cities, as the other
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two are even more monoethnic. The relatively high percentage o ethnic mi-
norities in Krasnodar perhaps accounts or higher levels o tension than in
the other two cities. Discrimination against people classifed as migrants,meaning non-Russians as opposed to indigenous residents, meaning
Russians or Cossacks, became law with the passing o several policies in the
1990s. One such resolution in 1997 reprimanded the administration o Sochi,
a popular Russian resort city in Krasnodar Krai, or permitting people o
Armenian and Georgian nationalities permanent registration, Russian citi-
zenship, and permission to marry. Meanwhile, they vigorously tried to attract
ethnic Russians to migrate to the krai.
In 2002, Governor Tkachyov o Krasnodar Krai tightened existing laws
regarding registration procedures by setting quotas by region, identiying pro-
essions that are essential or the needs o the krai, and establishing a qualif-
cation commission.23 A ew years later, to strengthen the existing ederal law,
the governor sponsored legislation titled, On Measures to Prevent Illegal
Migration in Krasnodar Krai in July 2004. In December 2004, the frst camp
or illegal migrants was ounded in a village near the city o Krasnodar and
the ollowing year a second one was established in a village near the krais
border with Abkhazia. Within a ew years more than 3,000 non-Russian mi-
grants were deported rom the krai.24
Russian and international human rights organizations, as well as the in-
ternational media, have repeatedly criticized the discriminatory policies in
Krasnodar Krai toward ethnic minorities, especially toward Meskhetian Turks.
Likewise, the 2004 Ofcial Country Report on Human Rights Practices re-
leased by the U.S. State Department mentioned violations in Krasnodar Krai.
Subsequently, more than 15,000 Meskhetian Turks residing in Krasnodar Krai
have been granted reugee status or immigration to the United States.
Such a legislative history reveals a largely punitive approach toward mi-grants in Krasnodar Krai. For the media analysis, our research team analyzed
the contents o the main Krasondar Krai newspaper, Kubanskie novosti, rom
2000 to 2010.* Overall we observed an expression o intense hostility to-
ward migrants.
* Using the search terms * or * in the Russian newspaper database
EastView, we searched all articles published in Kubanskie novosti in that time
period. We limited results to articles with a score of 2 or higher on the databases
relevancy scale. This procedure yielded 56 articles, of which 40 were relevant.
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20 EURASIAN MIGRATION PAPERS
There was great ocus on the importance o law and order, as well as con-
cerns about migrants overtaxing social services and the inability o certain
groups to assimilate. Such themes are ound in many migrant host countries,including the United States, but there were others that seemed unique. For
example, there was concern over the delicate ethnic balance in the Kuban
region, and migration as a threat to this balance; a very overt orm o rac-
ism in that some migrants, especially the Meskhetian Turks, were portrayed
as undamentally uncivilized; and a very strong ocus on state interests over
individual interests. Two common phrases ollow: Migration should serve
the interests o the state, and not the interests o the migrants, meaning that
all migration should be directed to specifc strategic locations, particularly
those with low population density, which is quite reminiscent o the Soviet
approach to migration; and assertions that migrants come to Krasnodar or
their own personal enrichment, in a tone that implied taking a job was the
equivalent o stealing something rom Krasnodar.
Despite such negative attitudes and policies toward migrants, Krasnodar
Krai has held steady in receiving 4 to 5 percent o Russias migrants annually.
It is second only to the Moscow region now. However, as in Russia overall,
the absolute numbers o migrants coming to Krasnodar have dropped sub-
stantially over the last decade. Ater 2006, the number o articles in Kubanskienovostiabout migration dropped dramatically. In articles that did appear, there
was a slight but important change in tone. The antiillegal migration rhetoric
was as strong as ever, but many o the articles published since 2007 noted the
importance o a legal oreign workorce or the local economy. It is probably
not a coincidence that it was 2007 when the host city o the 2014 Winter
Olympics was announcedSochi, the seaside resort town noted above. The
colossal construction projects underway have surely required additional
workers, and there is an anticipated need or masses o service workers duringthe games. In 2008, Krasnodar experienced positive net migration exchange
with the ar abroad or the frst time, which included labor migrants rom
China and Turkey. In 2012, the total number o migrants rom the ar abroad
is projected at about 200,000.25
Keeping this background research in mind, our research team conducted
interviews in June 2011 in Krasnodar. In meetings with representatives o so-
cial organizations and various governmental departments, the team was oten
told that there were no problems with migrants in Krasnodar. For example, a
representative o the Department o Foreign Relations commented: There
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21A WARY WELCOME: Varying Reception of Migrants in Russian Cities
is no unriendly behavior, just rumors.... We have more than 100 nationali-
tiesi there is a problem, it will be an explosion. Our biggest problem right
now is how hot it will be here this summer.... We have no ethnic problems.
26
However, interviews with human rights leaders painted a dierent pic-
ture, which reected the negative attitudes expressed in the newspapers. The
chairman o the Human Rights Center o Krasnodar noted that [t]he big-
gest problem is the lack o protection o local rights and laws. There is a real
slave mentality heremigrants always get blamed.27 Similarly, a representa-
tive o the Commission on Human Rights or Krasnodar Krai stated that
The level o integration in the city is relatively low.28
In interviews with representatives o various diaspora groups, our research
team heard another viewpoint, that the ethnic minorities in Krasnodar elt
well-integrated in act, and that some o the groups were established or the
explicit purpose opreventing ull assimilation and maintaining their respec-
tive cultural identities.29 Some negative attitudes were observed among the
minority ethnic groups, however, in particular the Ukrainian representatives
view o Central Asians. Also, an Armenian respondent reported discrimina-
tion and discomort. Overall, however, the ethnic diaspora groups had posi-
tive outlooks. Furthermore, our researchers did not observe ethnic enclaves
in the city, with the exception o the Vietnamese population, who tended tolive in specifc dormitories in Krasnodar. As or inormal day labor markets,
which are typically requented by unregistered migrants in other cities (as
in the United States), it was interesting to note that most o the laborers
were ethnic Russians! Igor Kuznetsov, proessor at Kuban State University in
Krasnodar and consultant to the project, theorized that it would be too risky
in Krasnodar or oreign migrants to advertise their services on the street and
that they have their own channels or fnding employment.
EKATERINBURG
Ekaterinburg is the ourth most populous city in Russia, with 1,350,136 peo-
ple as o 2010, and is one o Russias leading fnancial centers today.30 A thou-
sand miles east o Moscow, just east o the Ural Mountains,Ekaterinburg was
ounded a bit earlier than Krasnodar, during Peter the Greats rule in 1723.
Established as an imperial outpost, it steadily gained settlers rom across the
Empire,31 and particularly during construction o the Trans-Siberian Railroad
in the late 19th century. This allowed Ekaterinburg to proft rom the mineral
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22 EURASIAN MIGRATION PAPERS
deposits or which the Urals are well known and to eventually become one o
Russias most important mining and manuacturing centers.
During the Soviet period, Ekaterinburg was renamed Sverdlovsk in 1924in honor o Bolshevik leader Yakov Sverdlov, who organized military-indus-
trial production during the Cold War, drawing on the citys many actories.
For this reason, Sverdlovsk was closed to oreigners and all Soviet citizens
were required to receive approval or entry. The Soviet period saw little mi-
gration to Sverdlovsk.
In the 1990s, the city was renamed Ekaterinburg and reopened to or-
eign visitors and migrants alike. As Blair A. Ruble has written about this
period, Ekaterinburgs city administration ostered cooperation among the
many research institutions in the area with the new civil manuacturing in-
dustry when it aced the prospect o a huge deense industry in decline.32
This saved jobs that would have been eliminated, as well as created newjobs.
Furthermore, the Ekaterinburg elite capitalized on their political connections
to President Yeltsin, who was born and educated in the region and ormer
frst secretary o the local Communist Party. Enjoying such high-level con-
nections, the city was able to attract oreign investors and establish more than
a dozen consulates.
Thanks to these measures, among others, the oblast (another regional unitin Russia, similar to krai) in which Ekaterinburg is located received approxi-
mately 3 percent o Russias annual international migrants throughout the
1990s.33 The vast majority o the migrants wererom ormer Soviet repub-
lics, mainly Ukraine, and almost no migrants arrived rom the ar abroad in
the 1990s.
Like much o the Urals, Sverdlovsk Oblast is more ethnically diverse than
the regions o Central Russia. Nevertheless, in the early 2000s, the over-
whelming majority o residents in the oblast were o Russian nationality (89percent), and the largest minority groups were Tatars (almost 4 percent) and
Bashkirs (0.8 percent).34 The ethnic composition o the oblast has remained
airly stable since the early 1990s, and while less diverse than the country as a
whole, it is more diverse than the third city, Nizhnyi Novgorod.
The peak year or migration in Sverdlovsk Oblast was 2001, when it host-
ed just over 4 percent o all international migrants to Russia, but by the next
year this percent dropped by hal to 2 percent o all international migrants,
and has increased only slightly since then. Similar to migration in Russia
overall, the total number o international migrants coming to Sverdlovsk
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23A WARY WELCOME: Varying Reception of Migrants in Russian Cities
Oblast has decreased substantially since the 1990s, but recovered some since
2006. Currently Ekaterinburg and Sverdlovsk Oblast have moderatemigration
ows compared to the rest o the country and attract more migrants thanother regions in the Urals because o Sverdlovsk Oblasts dynamic construc-
tion industry. The majority o the migrants in the region continue to be rom
the ormer Soviet Union, but Ukraine is no longer the main source coun-
try or migrants. Since 2000, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan contribute the larg-
est number o migrants. Sverdlovsk Oblast also now receives a ew hundred
migrants annually rom the ar abroad.35
In contrast to Krasnodar, Ekaterinburg does not have a reputation or
being strongly anti-immigrant. We tested this reputation using the same
methods we used or Krasnodar, and began by analyzing the content o the
Sverdlovsk press. We searched or terms relating to migration in Sverdlovsk
Oblasts main newspaperUralskii rabochii or the years 2005 through 2010.
Based on the number o articles, the most interest in migration issues oc-
curred in 2007; this was likely due to many signifcant changes made in mi-
gration policy in 2007, including simplifed registration procedures and an
increase in registered migrants.
Three main themes regarding migration emerged in the newspaper. Most
o the articles dealt with legislation and paid signifcant attention to howthe local government was handling migration issues, including interviews
o Federal Migration Service (FMS) ofcials in several articles. The articles
gave the overall impression that Uralskii rabochiiwas dedicated to providing
as much inormation as possible about the inux o migrantshow their
presence aects the local residents and the experience o migrants themselves.
They provided a great deal o helpul inormation or both migrants and
employers o migrants about changes in the system and called on the FMS to
publicly address concrete questions. The newspaper even sponsored migra-tion question hotlines on more than one occasion.
The articles rom the 20052007 period seemed to be more protection-
ist in tone than in more recent years. However, it was one o a preemptive
deense as in dont worry, there are plenty o jobs or Russians too.... [T]
he Ikea is being built hal by Russians, hal by migrants ... [and] such-and-
such building is being built only by Russians. Thus it was not a battle cry
or Russian nationals, but a careul anticipation o such complaints. (Analysis
o Uralskii rabochii articles beore 2005 would be interesting to determine
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24 EURASIAN MIGRATION PAPERS
whether the extreme negative views we ound in the press o the early 2000s
in Krasnodar were also present in Ekaterinburg at that time.)
While journalists recognized ethnic and social conict in the oblast, theyurged readers to think about the benefts or society i all groups could work
together peaceully. One o the journalists who requently wrote about mi-
gration issues orUralskii rabochii seemed to sympathize with the migrants,
as she covered the exploitation o migrants and interviewed human rights
workers or her articles. Overall, the newspaper articles supported what we
had heard o Ekaterinburgs relatively tolerant reputation.
In interviews we conducted in September 2011, many respondents
also lauded a history o diversity and tolerance, oten connecting it to
Ekaterinburgs geographic location on the natural border o Europe and
Asia. Tatyana Merzlyakova, the human rights ombudsman or Sverdlovsk
Oblast praised the ormer governor o the oblast, Eduard Rosselan ethnic
German who aced much discrimination growing up ater World War IIor
having been sensitive to ethnic minorities.36 She characterized the current
governor, however, as not seeming to know how to handle such issues.
Several experts noted that many o the recent ethnic conicts had been
blown out o proportion by the media and that bloggers were eeding cer-
tain antimigrant sentiments. For example, a representative o the nongov-ernmental organization Uralskii Dom commented: In general, Sverdlovsk
Oblast is very tolerant, with the exception o the ethnic tensions stirred up
by the media ater recent conicts, making basic criminal activity into ethnic
conicts.37 An ofcial o the Sverdlovsk Oblast Migration Center described
attitudes toward migrants based on widely held ethnic stereotypes: Local at-
titudes toward migrants vary depending on perceptions o the ethnic group:
the Chinese and Vietnamese, or example, are seen as more cultured and or-
derly, whereas migrants rom Central Asia are seen as unpredictable and athreat.38 Others observed a dierence in attitudes based on age. For instance,
according to a representative o the local United Russia Party, The youth do
not respect the migrants, orgastarbaiterias we call them. Russians who grew
up in the Soviet Union have had more contact with people rom the other
republics, so most o the cultural tensions are among the youth.39
The non-Russians we interviewed described a wide range o experiences,
rom positive to negative. A representative o the Azeri ethnic community
expressed a pragmatic view o successul integration into Ekaterinburg so-
ciety: Its all about money. I you have a shop at the market, people will
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25A WARY WELCOME: Varying Reception of Migrants in Russian Cities
ignore your nationality. An ethnic Uzbek woman rom Kyrgyzstan was also
positive about her situation: I there is enough work I will bring my amily
here. I have ound a common language with my Russian landladya goodwoman. However, other diaspora spokespersons, such as a man rom the
Ingush community, were visibly upset and rustrated by how their people
have been treated by the ethnic Russian majority. In a response to a criticism
that incoming migrants do not respect the local customs and traditions, an
Ingush man exclaimed, What are the traditions that we [migrants] should be
ollowing? Drinking beer and smoking like the 15-year-old Russian girls I
see sitting in the park at night? Ater we observed a heated discussion among
many o Ekaterinburgs ethnic minorities, it was clear that there are many
unresolved points o tension simmering beneath the surace.
NIZHNYI NOVGOROD
Nizhnyi Novgorod, the fth largest city in Russia, has the lowest proportion
o migrants among the three cities in our study. In 2002, it ranked ourth in
population in Russia but has declined signifcantly in the last ten years, swap-
ping places with Ekaterinburg.40 Nizhnyi, as it is colloquially reerred to, is
the capital o Nizhegorodskaiia Oblast, which is part o the Volga FederalDistrict. A port city, Nizhnyi is located at the convergence o two major
Russian rivers, the Volga and the Oka, giving it access to the Baltic, Black,
Caspian, and White Seas as well as the Sea o Azov.
Considerably older than the other two cities in our study, Nizhnyi
Novgorod was ounded by Grand Prince Yuri in 1221 at the meeting o the
two rivers as a strategic location to protect against invasions and developing
trade.41 In 1817, a substantial trade air was moved to Nizhnyi, and the city
gained international recognition. Tradespeople rom other parts o Russia andmany European and Asian countries traveled to Nizhnyi to sell their goods.
The citys industrial boom began in the second hal o the nineteenth cen-
tury, and Nizhnyi Novgorod became one o Russias largest industrial centers.
For example, the Sormovo plant ounded in 1849 led the country in ship-
building and machine manuacturing. In 1897, Nizhnyi merchants ounded a
weaving plant that became one o the largest in Russia.
Nizhnyi was a closed city during the Soviet period, during which time
its name was changed to Gorkii, and oreigners were not allowed to visit.
The amous dissident Andrei Sakharov was exiled to Gorkii, most likely due
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26 EURASIAN MIGRATION PAPERS
in part to its tightly controlled media and strict residency rules. Factories
building torpedoes, tanks, radar equipment and, most notably, commercial
vehicles grew during the Soviet period. Established in Gorkii in 1932 as ajoint venture with the Ford Motor Company, the Gorkovsky Avtomobilny
Zavod (GAZ), was one o the largest producers o commercial vehicles in
Europe. Ironically, this city, which was known or administrative control and
media restrictions, gained notoriety in the late perestroika period as the home
o reorm-minded and market-oriented politicians such as Boris Nemtsov.42
Ater the all o the Soviet Union, the Volga Federal District began to
attract migrants in large numbers, and throughout the 1990s received only
slightly ewer migrants than the Central Federal District (where Moscow
is located). Nizhegorodskaiia Oblast has not been a major migration target,
however, as it consistently received approximately 2 percent o all ofcially
registered migrants in Russia. Similar to our other case studies, as well as
other regions in Russia, the majority o migrants to Nizhegorodskaiia Oblast
came rom the ormer Soviet republics. The largest source countries or mi-
grants during the mid-1990s were Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and Georgia.43 As
the 1990s ended, migration rom Ukraine remained high, and migration rom
Azerbaijan increased, but migration rom the other countr ies declined. There
was eectively no migration rom the ar abroad in the 1990s.Between 2001 and 2002, the number o migrants to Nizhegorodskaiia
Oblast decreased rom approximately 2 percent o Russias migrants to just
over 1 percent, and the level remained low or several years. During this time,
incoming migrants were mostly rom the CIS. In the early 2000s, Nizhnyi
Novgorod received approximately fty migrants rom the ar abroad every
year, while more than fty Nizhnyi Novgorod citizens were emigrating to
the ar abroad annually. Ukraine and Uzbekistan were the major source coun-
tries or migrants, but there was also signifcant outmigration to Ukraine,meaning that net migration was barely positive some years.
Ater 2006, as migration to Russia began to increase, migration to Nizhnyi
Novgorod Oblast increased even aster, and by 2008 Nizhnyi Novgorod was
receiving nearly 3 percent o Russias migrants. This could also be explained
in part by the act that today Nizhegorodskaiia Oblast ranks seventh in Russia
in industrial output, and manuacturing dominates the local economy, em-
ploying 62 percent o the workorce. Although migration rom the ar abroad
has doubled to over 100 people per year, most o the overall increase in mi-
gration is explained by migrants rom the CIS, particularly rom Uzbekistan,
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27A WARY WELCOME: Varying Reception of Migrants in Russian Cities
Tajikistan, and Azerbaijan. More recently, large numbers o Kyrgyz workers
have arrived in the region.44
Despite this growing supply o migrants to Nizhnyi Novgorod, the eth-nic makeup o Nizhnyi is the least diverse o our three case studies as ethnic
Russians currently account or 95 percent o the regions population. Tatars
are the largest minority group, at approximately 1.3 percent, and other mi-
nority groups include Mordvinians and Ukrainians.45 Similar to Ekaterinburg,
Nizhnyis travel websites emphasize its geographic location perched on the
crossroads o the Volga and Oka Rivers, described as a connecting link be-
tween Europe and Asia, and a br idge between the European and Asian parts
o Russia.46 Is the same welcoming attitude expressed toward nonethnic
Russians in Nizhnyi?
Using the same method as or the other cities, our research team ana-
lyzed the content o Nizhnyi Novgorods two most prominent newspapers to
identiy local attitudes toward migration. We reviewed the main newspaper,
Nizhegorodskie novosti, or the 20002010 period, and Birzha, a weekly busi-
ness journal, or 2005 through 2008. Almost all o the articles that dealt with
migration made the point that Nizhnyi needs migrants and cannot survive
economically or demographically without them; one article in Nizhegorodskie
novosti rom 2005 even lamented the act that too few migrants come toNizhnyi. Birzha did not have many articles on migration, but the handul
published tended to inorm employers o new ederal migration laws that
might aect them and their workers. The Birzha articles general tone was
toward migration was eectively neutralits just a reality or business.
The main newspaper took a airly strong stance against illegal migration,
but unlike in Krasnodar, the journalists tended to put the blame on the em-
ployers o undocumented workers rather than on the migrants themselves.
Nizhegorodskie novostitended to portray illegal migration as bad not only be-cause it decreased tax revenues and undermined order (which were the ar-
guments made in Krasnodar), but also because it leads to exploitation o the
migrants. There were even some articles that delved into the vested interests
which allowed or undocumented migration to go unchecked.
Articles in the Nizhnyi press on crime bring out the citys most antimi-
grant attitudes. In a string o articles published rom 2007 to 2010, the story
was essentially migrant commits atrocious crime. These were descriptions
o a specifc crime, with the criminal clearly identifed as a migrant. In one
such article, the connection between migration and crime was made explic-
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28 EURASIAN MIGRATION PAPERS
itly: migrants are more likely to commit crimes than locals because they have
no local social support system. The same article supported the local prosecu-
tors call or residency laws to be more strictly enorced since most migrantswho commit crimes have violated residency laws.
It was interesting that Nizhegorodskie novosti did not appear to be con-
trolled nearly as strictly by the local government as Kubanskie novosti. The
wide range o issues and viewpoints expressed in the two Nizhnyi newspapers
makes it more difcult to describe their general attitude toward migration.
Like Krasnodars Kubanskie novosti, the Nizhnyi papers dedicated much
coverage to legislation. There was also evidence o the Nizhnyi authorities
pushing back against the ederal government rom time to time. For instance,
the author o a 2008 article criticized the idea o a quota system, arguing that
it creates illegal migration when demand exceeds the quota. In 2009, Nizhnyi
raised its regional quota or migrants, despite then-Prime Minister Putins
request or all regions to lower their quotas; and in 2010, the local FMS pro-
tested some o the changes to the law on oreigners.
Overall, the tone o the migration debate in Nizhnyis newspapers can
be described as much calmer and much more positive toward migration
and migrants than in Krasnodar, but not as positive as the discourse in the
Ekaterinburg press. There is also much more reliance on ederal legislation(although they criticize it), and no voiced eorts to supplement it with local
policy. As team researcher Erin Homann noted, the articles on migration that
appear in Nizhegorodskie novostiare oten very thoughtul and intelligent and
address complicated issues, with the exception o the migrant commits atro-
cious crime articles.
This mix o attitudes was also ound in the interviews conducted by our
research team in Nizhnyi in the summer o 2011. Many residents interviewed
by our team made conicting comments about migrants.47
A common re-mark was I dont have anything against the migrants, but it would be bet-
ter i they did not come to Russia. With urther explanation, the sentiment
behind such statements was not that the migrants were taking away jobs, but
that non-Russians were not able to integrate or adapt to Russian culture.
Nonethnic Russians noted a lack o tolerance in the city. A member o one o
the Tajik diaspora groups stated, We are ar rom tolerance, but we dont have
ethnic conict. Most o the [ethnic] problems [in the oblast] are centered
around youth and skinheads. A labor migrant, who was reportedly not rom
the CIS but did not speciy urther, scoed, Fit in? We have been coming to
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29A WARY WELCOME: Varying Reception of Migrants in Russian Cities
this country or decades, but no, we do not have a place here, we make our
own.... [We have our] own schools, ... protection, all our own. Distrust onon-Russians also came out in advertisements or apartments speciying that
the renters must be ethnically Russian, as well as decent Russian people
(). Figure 4 shows examples o such ads,
collected by team researcher Everett Peachey.
In contrast, a proessor o sociology at Nizhnyi Novgorod State University
insisted that migration was not o major concern to locals: I [a Nizhnyi
Novgorod resident is asked an open-ended question about problems in the
city], migration will never appear among the top fve social problems. We
have many other problems that people would mention frst.48
Through both content analysis o Nizhnyis press and interviews conduct-
ed in the city, a rather conicted perspective on migration emerges. Some
voices seem to want to encourage more migration, others are indierent, and
still others are strongly against the newcomers presence. It will be interesting
to see over time whether general attitudes become moreorless welcoming to
the migrants, and whether the local FMS will continue to increase quotas or
migrants, independent o the ederal governments decisions.
FIGURE 4. EXAMPLES OF APARTMENT-FOR-RENT ADS DEMONSTRATING
BIAS AGAINST NON-RUSSIAN ETHNICS, NIZHNYI, SUMMER 2011.
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30 EURASIAN MIGRATION PAPERS
Conclusions
Based on our research to date, the unique situations in the three cities
make it clear that the local context has a signifcant eect. In this
way, Russia is experiencing large-scale migration ows in a manner
similar to other countries with large migrant populations, with the United
States as a prime example. The United States does not have a national inte-
gration policy, and thereore local and state governments make their own de-
cisions on whether they develop integration programs and urge immigrants
to become active members in their new home communities.49 Overall, U.S.
cities with a long history o receiving immigrants rom Latin America have
a better track record on assisting their new residents integrate than cities or
towns that do not have as much experience with migration. However, there
are exceptions to this trend; or instance, Tucson, Arizona has a long history
o migration ows but also has some o the most anti-immigrant policies at
present. According to recent studies, larger cities in the United States also
tended to be more tolerant toward Latino immigrants than medium-size ci-ties and small towns. Furthermore, local immigration policies in the United
States have been ound to be more invasive and regulatory the arther a town
is rom a metropolitan area.
Similarly, while there are general trends in attitudes and perceptions toward
migrants in Russia, each city or region has its own unique history, and de-
mographic makeup and economic peculiarities that aect how it welcomes,
or does not welcome, migrants. When looking at geographic locations, the
border city in our study has much more contentious relations with migrantsthan the nonborder cities, as could be expected. Regarding the history o
migration to the cities, the two cities that were closed to oreigners dur-
ing the Soviet periodsomewhat surprisinglyhave more tolerant attitudes
toward migrants than the city with a rich migration history. Next, the two
larger cities had more positive views o migrants than the smallest one. In
terms o economic characteristics, the two industrial giants have been more
welcoming to migrants than the agricultural region. However, as seen in the
interviews, what is expressed in the newspapers or proclamations by politi-
cal leaders does not always mirror real-lie interactions in that city, and vice
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31A WARY WELCOME: Varying Reception of Migrants in Russian Cities
versa. These are some o the subtleties that we would like to explore in our
ongoing research.
Migration presents Russia with several major challenges, including re-confguring traditional labor markets, addressing legal restrictions against mi-
grants, and, perhaps most importantly, integrating migrants into the ormal
economy and society at large. How Russian government leaders ultimately
respond to these challenges and how they shape the national discourse will
play a major role in defning Russias political and economic uture. Russia
would do well to oster goodwill among all o its residents and promote a
pragmatic pluralism in order to build a sustainable society on both national
and local levels. By overcoming deep-rooted prejudices against the other
both domestic and oreignRussia will be able to beneft rom the human
resources required to grow and prosper.
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32 EURASIAN MIGRATION PAPERS
Notes
1 Cynthia Buckley, The Myth o Managed Migration: Migration Control
and Market in the Soviet Period, Slavic Review54, no. 4 (Winter 1995):
896916.
2 Timothy Heleniak, International Comparisons o Population Mobility
in Russia, International Journal of Population Research 2012 (2012), article
ID 361497, 13 pages, doi:10.1155/2012/361497.
3 Ibid.
4 Ibid.
5 A.G. Korovkin, I.N. Dolgova, and I.B. Korolev, Labor Shortages in
the Russian Economy: A Macroeconomics Estimate, Studies on Russian
Economic Development17, no. 4 (2006): 36576.
6 United Nations Department o Economic and Social Aairs, Population
Division, Trends in International Migrant Stock: The 2008 Revision, UN
database(2010), http://esa.un.org/migration/index.asp?panel=1.
7 Ibid.
8 Valerii Dmitrievich Solovei, The Revolution o Russian Identity
Russia or the Russians? Sociological Research 47, no. 3 (2008): 5679.
(Published in Russian, Russian Center or Public Opinion Research,
2006.)
9 Renata Kosc-Harmatiy and Mary Elizabeth Malinkin, Moscow
and Kyiv: Changing Cities and Migrant Magnets, Kennan Institute
and Comparative Urban Studies Project Report (Washington, D.C.:
Woodrow Wilson International Center or Scholars, Kennan Institute,
2008).
10 2002 Russian Census, http://www.perepis2002.ru/content.html?id=11
&docid=10715289081463, accessed December 4, 2011.
11 Blair A. Ruble, Adding Human Diversity to Urban Political Economy
Analysis: The Case o Russia, in Segmented Cities? How Urban Contexts
Shape Ethnic and Nationalist Politics, ed. Kristin Good, Phil Triaflopoulos,
and Luc Turgeon (Vancouver: University o British Columbia,
orthcoming).
12 Vladimir Malakhov, Ponaexali Tut(Moscow: Novoe literaturnoe
obozrenie, 2007).13 Solovei, The Revolution o Russian Identity.
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33A WARY WELCOME: Varying Reception of Migrants in Russian Cities
14 Cynthia Buckley and Mary Elizabeth Malinkin, Fitting in or Setting
the Standards? Nativity and Adherence to Idealized Social Norms in the
Russian Federation (Department o Sociology, University o Illinois,
Champaign-Urbana, 2012).
15 Dennis Zuev, The Russian ultranationalist movement on the internet:
actors, communities, and organization o joint actions, Post-Soviet Affairs
27, no. 2 (2011): 12157.
16 Ibid.
17 Federal State Statistics Service, May 21, 2004, http://www.perepis2002.
ru/ct/doc/1_TOM_01_04.xls; and Federal State Statistics Service, 2011,
http://www.perepis-2010.ru/results_o_the_census/results-inorm.php.
18 Oliver Bevan and Igor Kuznetsov, Krasnodar Passport, archiveddocument (Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 2011). For the project,
we reerred to a background report on a city, including local history,
geographical, political, cultural, social, economic, and demographic
context as its passport.
19 RussiaTrek.org, Welcome to Russia, Krasnodar City, Russia, http://
russiatrek.org/krasnodar-city.
20 With thanks to Oliver Bevan and Igor Kuznetsov or research on the
history o migration in Krasnodar.
21 RussiaTrek.org, Krasnodar City, Russia.
22 Bevan and Kuznetsov, Krasnodar Passport.
23 A.A. Kochergin, Vlasti Krasnodarskogo Kraia vs etnicheskikh
menshinstv (Krasnodar: Adult Education Center, 2002).
24 Bevan and Kuznetsov, Krasnodar Passport.
25 Ibid.
26 Interviews o experts conducted by Beth Mitchneck, co-principal
investigator, and Oliver Bevan, research assistant or the project.27 Ibid.
28 Ibid.
29 Ibid.
30 Russia Profle.org, Sverdvlosk Region, http://russiaprofle.org/bg_
places/resources_territory_districts_sverdlovsk.html.
31 Ruble, Adding Human Diversity to Urban Political Economy Analysis.
32 Blair A. Ruble, Urals Pathfnder: Theatre in Post-Soviet Yekaterinburg,
Kennan Institute Occasional Paper Series #307 (Washington, D.C.:Woodrow Wilson International Center or Scholars, 2011).
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35A WARY WELCOME: Varying Reception of Migrants in Russian Cities
The Eurasian Migration Papers
The Eurasian Migration Papers is a series o reportsproduced jointly by
the Kennan Institute and the Comparative Urban Studies Program o the
Woodrow Wilson International Center or Scholars in Washington, D.C.
that examines migrant communities in Eurasian cities. The series eatures the
results o Wilson Center-supported research examining the lives o migrants
in contemporary Russia, Ukraine, and surrounding states.
According to the United Nations, the number o people living in coun-
tries other than their birth is approaching 200 million worldwide, up rom 80million three decades ago. While the scale o migration has grown, the nature
o international population movements and patterns o migrant adaptation
have changed. Migration movements have become part o the permanent
abric o modern society, and bring with them questions o economic, politi-
cal, and social signifcance.
Migration is an especially pressing issue or the countries o Eurasia, in
which large-scale international migration is a relatively new phenomenon.
While the collapse o the Soviet state brought with it expanded reedomo movement, it also resulted in increased restrictions at many destination
points or migrants, providing new administrative challenges. Some citizens
are driven to leave their places o origin because o conict, political ambi-
guity, or economic deprivation. As the region continues its integration into
global economic networks, it becomes an increasingly desirable transit route
and destination or migrants rom Southeast Asia, Arica, and the Middle East.
The Kennan Institute has sponsored a number o activitiessuch as lec-
tures, workshops, working groups, seminars, and survey research among di-
erent migrant communities, native-born populations, and ofcialsintended
to explore the social and ofcial reaction to the presence o migrants within
Eurasian countries and to trace the evolving response o migrant communi-
ties to lie in their new homes. The Eurasian Migration Papers publication series
seeks to make the results o these eorts widely available to specialists, poli-
cymakers, and citizens in Russia, Ukraine, the United States, and elsewhere.
Printed copies o the Eurasian Migration Papers are available upon request
rom the Kennan Institute in Washington, D.C. They are also available ordownload in PDF ormat on the web pages o the Wilson Center:
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36 EURASIAN MIGRATION PAPERS
Kennan Institute, www.wilsoncenter.org/kennan,
Comparative Urban Studies Program, www.wilsoncenter.org/cusp,
the Kennan Moscow Project, www.kennan.ru,
and the Kennan Kyiv Project,www.kennan.kiev.ua.
Previous volumes of the Eurasian Migration Papers include:
No.1: Establishing a New Right to the Ukrainian City, Washington, DC:
Woodrow Wilson International Center or Scholars, 2008, by Blair A.
Ruble
No.2: Translational Migration to New Regional Centers: Policy Challenges,
Practices, and the Migrant Experience, Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson
International Center or Scholars, 2009, edited by Lauren E. Herzer,
Sarah Dixon Klump, and Mary Elizabeth Malinkin
No.3: Chinese Migration to Russia: Missed Opportunities,Washington, DC:
Woodrow Wilson International Center or Scholars, 2009, by Maria
Repnikova and Harley Balzer
No.4: Remittances, Recession Returning Home? The Effects of the 2008
Economic Crisis on Tajik Migrant Labor in Moscow, Washington, DC:
Woodrow Wilson International Center or Scholars, 2010, by Hilary
Hemmings
No.5: Demography, Migration, and Tolerance: Comparing the Russian,
Ukrainian and U.S. Experience, Washington, D.C.: Woodrow WilsonInternational Center or Scholars, 2010, edited by Nancy Popson
No.6: Migration Processes and Challenges in Contemporary Russia: St.
Petersburg Case Study, Washington, D.C.: Woodrow Wilson International
Center or Scholars, 2012, by Marya Rozanova
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37A WARY WELCOME: Varying Reception of Migrants in Russian Cities
In addition to the Eurasian Migration Papers, please also see the Kennan
Institutes previous publications concerning migration and tolerance in
Ukraine (available or download in PDF ormat):
Netradytsiini Mihranty u Kyievi [Nontraditional Immigrants in Kyiv],
Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson International Center or
Scholars, 2004, by Olena Braichevska, Halyna Volosiuk, Olena
Malynovska,Yaroslav Pylynskyi, Nancy E. Popson, and Blair A. Ruble.
[Available in English and Ukrainian; no longer available in printed
orm]
Mihratsiia i tolerantnist v Ukrainy [Migration and Tolerance in Ukraine],
Kyiv: Stylos Press, 2007, edited by Yaroslav Pylynskyi. [Ukrainian; nolonger available in printed orm]
Aktualno: Tolerantnist![Current Issue: Tolerance!], Kyiv: Stylos Press, 2008,
edited by Yaroslav Pylynskyi. [Ukrainian]
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38 EURASIAN MIGRATION PAPERS
About the Author
Mary Elizabeth Malinkin has been on the sta o the Kennan Institute since
2007. Ater graduating rom Carleton College in 2001 with a B.A. in history,
she lived in Vladimir, Russia or two years and studied Russian language, his-
tory, literature, and politics at Vladimir State Pedagogical University. In 2006
she received an M.A. in Russian and East European Studies at the University
o Michigan ater writing her thesis on ethnic minorities in the Moscow
workorce. Her current research ocuses on migration issues in Russia, and
her other publications include: Moscow and Kyiv: Changing Cities and MigrantMagnets (co-authored with Renata Kosc-Harmatiy; Kennan Institute and
Comparative Urban Studies Project Report, 2008) and Transnational Migration
to New Regional Centers: Policy Challenges, Practice, and the Migrant Experience
(conerence proceedings) (co-edited with Lauren Herzer and Sarah Dixon
Klump; Kennan Institute and Comparative Urban Studies Eurasian Migration
Paper #2, 2009). In addition to her work on the Kennan Institutes migration
research, she is liaison to the Kennan Moscow and Kyiv Projects.
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