Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov criticises Russia’s ‘disappointing’ migration policy

Chechnya’s leader Ramzan Kadyrov has criticised Russia’s “rapid” tightening of its migration policy, calling the measures taken against migrants in Russia “disappointing” in a statement published on Telegram on Monday.

“Some measures taken are, to put it mildly, disappointing. It feels like someone is deliberately pitting Russia against its neighbouring fraternal regions,” the Kremlin-backed Chechen head wrote, adding that foreigners in Russia were being detained “unceremoniously” using “very harsh” measures.

The Russian authorities began to tighten migration legislation after the terror attack at Crocus City Hall in March, during which four natives of Tajikistan opened fire on concertgoers before setting fire to the venue, killing at least 144 people and injuring hundreds.

In July Russia’s State Duma adopted a law introducing a new “migrant expulsion regime”, enabling the authorities to further crack down on foreigners.

Migrants from Central Asia, which have made up the bulk of migrants coming to Russia in recent years, have been particularly targeted by authorities, facing regular police raids on their places of work and being forcibly recruited to fight on the frontlines in Ukraine.

Without providing any names, Kadyrov placed responsibility for the crisis on “those who should have dealt with issues within their competence at the time and promptly responded to any escalating processes”.

“By inciting hatred towards migrants in society, we will not achieve anything good, on the contrary we will only worsen the situation. It would be better to at least establish a competent system of migration control now, to build the right policy in this area. But we should not subject citizens of other countries to a disorderly inquisition,” the head of Chechnya added.

Kadyrov argued that the expulsion of migrants would not solve the migration problem in Russia and called for an end to the use of “medieval approaches” in relation to migrants and “to engage in a targeted solution to the issue”.