Russian lawmaker calls for visa regime with Central Asian countries and harsher penalties for migrants

During the interview, Mironov said Russia should abandon the current patent system in favor of a rotational work model, deport not only migrants who commit crimes but also their extended family members, and introduce a visa regime with Central Asian states.

“We must move to a visa regime with Central Asian countries. There are places in Russia where our own citizens have been forced to leave because, as people say, ‘newcomers have taken over’, living according to their own customs and rules. They don’t care about anything,” Mironov said.

According to him, the situation demands several strict steps.

“First, when workers arrive, they should be housed not in populated areas but directly at the construction sites where they work. They must live according to the principle ‘arrived – worked – earned – left’. Second, if any migrant commits a crime, they must be punished according to the law, while their family and relatives should be immediately deported from Russia. And finally, we must move to a visa regime with Central Asian states – I believe we will eventually reach this point,” Mironov said.

This is not the first time Mironov has called for tough measures against migrants. Earlier, he said that given the current scale and criteria of migration flows, “we do not need this kind of migration”. According to him, only a small share of the “millions of migrants” are actual workers, while the rest come “for personal or family reasons”, placing a burden on the social sector.