By Vestnik Kavkaza
On November 15, 2006, the Russian government adopted the act 683 for regulation of trade and business activity of migrants living in Russia. Baku decided that the document which touched on all migrants living in the country could cause trouble for Azerbaijani citizens. That is why on November 22, 2006, Ilham Aliyev signed an order “On Settlement of Problems of Azerbaijani Citizens Dealing with Trade in the Russian Federation.” The established commission dealt with studying problems of Azerbaijanis in Russia and their settlement.
According to the foreign minister of Russia, Sergey Lavrov, migration affairs are not unique for Azerbaijan or other Caucasus republics: “Today we have to struggle against illegal migration, including migrants from the CIS. There are two front goals. On the one hand, we have to protect our citizens from dangers in all CIS countries; on the other hand, we should provide complete social security of migrants who want legally work in Russia and other countries.”
The steps taken since late 2006 directed at further stiffening of migration laws in Russia didn’t have a serious influence on Azerbaijanis living and working in Russia. In 2007 only one Azeri migrant was deported from Russia, in 2008 – two migrants. On February 20, 2007, in the embassy of Azerbaijan in Moscow, the issuing of passports to Azerbaijanis living in Russia began. The staff of the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan, who work in the Consular Section of the embassy deal with the issue. According to requirements, documents of citizens are sent to the Section of Visas and Registration of the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan, put together and returned back to Moscow. Thus, Azerbaijanis can receive passports without leaving Russia.
On September 4, 2007, Moscow hosted a session of the working group on attraction of Azerbaijani citizens to labour activity in the Russian Federation.
The Russian side noted that there was the readmission agreement signed by the Russian Federation and the European Union and stressed importance of the agreement for all sides.
It was found reasonable to sign the intergovernmental readmission agreement and the agreement on struggle against illegal migration between Russia and Azerbaijan along with the agreement on cooperation in the sphere of labour migration.
The draft of the agreement on cooperation in the sphere of labour migration was presented to the Russian side by the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan as the note on July 30, 2007; the draft of the readmission agreement was presented to the Azerbaijani side in 2004 through diplomatic channels.
Labour migrants from Azerbaijan working in Russia are employed in the following sectors of Russian economy – retail and wholesale trade, repair and construction. Since January 2007 the Foreign Ministry of Russia regularly conducts meetings of plenipotentiary envoys of state structures of the country with ambassadors of the CIS countries.
According to the Federal Migration Service of Russia, among countries of Central Asia, citizens of which work in Russia, Azerbaijan takes the last place on the quantitative criterion.
Protection of rights of Azerbaijanis in Russia is provided by the embassy in Moscow and the general consulship in St. Petersburg, according to the law of the Azerbaijani Republic on state policies toward Azerbaijanis living abroad and other similar documents.
The Federal Ethnic Cultural Autonomy of Azerbaijanis of Russia is working, its numerous offices provide its activity in various regions of Russia.
The Azerbaijani Diaspora plays a positive role in improvement of life of Azerbaijanis in Russia.
According to various data, from several hundred thousand to more than a million of Azerbaijanis live in Russia. The official statistics says about 850 thousand people, a half of them live in Moscow. The situation over the huge amount of people is interesting both for the authorities of Russia and the leadership of Azerbaijan. In the early 2000s the All-Russian Azerbaijani Congress was established. The history of the Azerbaijani Diaspora is not so long. Only in the early 1990s the difficult economic situation forced thousands of people from Azerbaijan to move to Russia, searching for a better life. However, they didn’t lose contact with their motherland.
