The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, has criticized tightening of the migration policy in Russia.
"There's a sense that someone is deliberately trying to pit Russia against its neighboring brotherly regions. If migration policy is to be changed, it shouldn’t be done in such a repulsive manner, where people are fiercely attacking anyone who looks foreign. Detentions are carried out without any ceremony, and recently, these actions have become very harsh," Kadyrov wrote in a post on his Telegram channel.
In his view, migration issues cannot be resolved through "mass deportations of foreign citizens," and the problems did not arise "because of the migrants themselves."
"The root of the issue lies in the negligence of those who were responsible for these matters at the time, who should have promptly responded to any emerging challenges. There was virtually no oversight. In any case, by fueling hatred toward migrants in society, we will achieve nothing good and will only worsen the situation. It would be better to now establish a competent migration control system and build a proper policy in this area. But we should not subject foreign citizens to random inquisitions. We need to address the causes, not deal with the consequences," the Chechen leader believes.
Kadyrov urged the authorities to "abandon these medieval approaches and focus on targeted solutions."
"The key thing to understand is that there are lawbreakers among migrants, but there are also law-abiding ones—and there are far more of the latter. This is important. Fine, we may drive away today’s migrants through total persecution and purges, but tomorrow others will come from different countries, and who can guarantee that they will be any better?" he concluded.
