The heads of the Investigative Committee and the Interior Ministry, Aleksandr Bastrykin and Vladimir Kolokoltsev, are “out of place” and do not fulfill “qualitatively” the tasks set by the president, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said.
“Kolokoltsev gave a command: now newcomers are being beaten, taken away, kicked out – our brothers who we need. Then they say that no one wants to be friends with us. Why did we lose Ukraine, Georgia? Why are relations with other countries strained? Because people do not know what is going on in the state. <…> They are indiscriminately sitting in their armchairs, not looking at what is happening outside the window,” Kadyrov said. He added that “the Almighty will surely punish them” for this.
Before that, the Chechen leader had generally criticized the Russian authorities for tightening migration policy. According to him, some of the measures being taken cause him disappointment, as they “push Russia against neighboring fraternal regions”. The authorities need to establish a “competent system of migration control” rather than subjecting citizens of other countries to “indiscriminate inquisition,” Kadyrov said. “By inciting hatred in society towards migrants, we will achieve nothing good, but, on the contrary, we will only aggravate the situation. <…> We need to eliminate the causes, not deal with their consequences,” he emphasized.
The tightening of migration policy in Russia began after the terrorist attack in the Crocus City Hall near Moscow on March 22. The victims of the attack were 145 people, more than 550 were injured. The suspects in the case were citizens of Tajikistan, which caused a wave of anti-migrant sentiment in society.
Against this background, law enforcement agencies conducted the largest “hunt” for illegal migrants since 2013, organizing raids in 68 regions of the country. The Interior Ministry proposed to tighten migration legislation. In June, the State Duma passed a law that restricts the rights of foreign citizens. These measures include adding migrants to a special register, limiting their right to change their place of residence, drive vehicles, marry and open bank accounts. In September, the Interior Ministry reported that more than two million migrants had left Russia.
After that, the “presidential” administration became concerned about the consequences of the anti-migrant campaign and decided to lower the degree of “dislike” for newcomers by changing the tone of state propaganda, Meduza wrote. According to the publication’s sources, the migrant theme was initially used to distract Russians from the war, but it aggravated the situation in the economy, which was already experiencing a staff shortage.
