Sergey Mironov, a State Duma (Russia’s lower chamber of parliament) member and leader of the “A Just Russia – For Truth” faction, has proposed a new law to restrict social payments, benefits, and housing certificates for naturalized migrants to those who have lived continuously in Russia for at least 20 years. The draft legislation has been submitted to the Russian government for consideration, TASS reports.
The bill suggests introducing a residency requirement stipulating that only migrants who have held Russian citizenship and lived in the country without interruption for 20 years will qualify for state support. However, this residency rule will not apply to citizens who acquired citizenship through the inclusion of new territories into the Russian Federation, participants in compatriot resettlement programs, as well as citizens of Belarus, Ukraine, and participants in the special military operation.
According to the proposal, this residency threshold would affect eligibility for social benefits such as welfare payments, pension supplements, subsidies for purchasing or building housing for young and large families, and subsidies for preferential mortgage programs.
Commenting on the initiative, Mironov pointed out that recent scandals in several regions have arisen around the issuance of housing certificates to families of naturalized migrants.
“People are rightfully outraged about why the authorities help citizens who recently obtained passports, while many local residents have been waiting in vain for years,” Mironov told TASS.
Earlier this year, in January, media attention focused on a case in Mytishchi where a housing certificate was issued to a large family originally from Tajikistan. The decision sparked sharp criticism from right-wing social media communities and bloggers, who were angered by social media posts from the family’s head, Ramazon Rakhimov, who wrote he was “ready to fight anyone for the Tajik flag” rather than the Russian flag and criticized law enforcement.
Among the critics were Sergey Mironov and the neo-Nazi paramilitary group DShRG “Rusich,” who called the family “expensive Russians who obtained citizenship thanks to corruption in the Ministry of Internal Affairs.”
Following the backlash, Alexander Bastrykin, head of Russia’s Investigative Committee, demanded a report on alleged housing rights violations in Mytishchi. Criminal proceedings have been subsequently instituted.
