By Vestnik Kavkaza
An agreement on the facilitation of the visa regime between Russia and the European Union could be signed at the next EU -Russia summit, Russia's permanent representative to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, told RIA Novosti. Now Moscow and the European Union hold parallel negotiations in the visa field on two fronts: to facilitate the issuance of visas to certain categories of citizens, and - in the future – to carry out the abolition of visas. Negotiations for an agreement on visa facilitation are in a much more advanced stage than the dialogue on the possible visa-free regime.
So far Russia is taking unilateral steps. Last week, the State Duma adopted in the first reading the draft law on the establishment of a three-day visa-free travel for tourists coming through Russian air transit. The list of countries with which such facilitated visa regime could be established is determined by the government. So far such rules apply only in respect of foreign tourists arriving in Russia on specialized cruise ships and ferries. According to forecasts of the Ministry of Culture, the bill will increase the flow of transit tourists to half a million people a year.
At the same time, in Russia, there is a discussion about the possibility of the introduction of the visa regime with the CIS countries in the fight against illegal migration. However, the effectiveness of this measure is questionable.
“The most numerous migrants are Uzbeks. There are almost 7-8 million of them”, Ibrahim Khoudayberdiyev, chairman of the Central Council of the All-Russian public organization Russian Congress of Uzbeks, said. “Why do Uzbek people go to Russia? Let us look at the border: no one is going to Afghanistan. Turkmenistan’s border is closed. Our brothers and sisters – the Tajiks - themselves are here. The Kirghiz are here as well. In Kazakhstan, the demographic situation is such that they proposed changing nationality. Thus, the most loyal migration policy is in the Russian Federation. And so the number of migrant workers, Uzbeks, in Russia is great”.
“We support legal migration”, Khoudayberdiyev says. “Together, we can organize the process of labor migration. It is time to establish social adaptation centers for migrant workers, so that a migrant worker could be adapted to the foreign culture, if he is committed to work on himself, learn the Russian language, Russian culture, Russian law in order to defend his rights. This would be better for migrant workers and for the receiving party. Through establishing social adaptation centers for migrant workers we can definitely solve this imbalance in our relationship”.
“Whatever lofty words may be said by our high officials in the Russian Federation, the current situation in Russia, both socially and economically, is in need of labor migration. Why are we talking superficially "in need"? Because today the enormity of Russian exports of raw materials is converting it into the raw state. And we are expressing a sense of patriotism, and we want to say: Russia in the future will be saved and provide a life worthy of the image of Russia in the international arena due to the deep processing of many raw materials. Regarding visas, colleagues, we should not engage in demagoguery. We do not need to say all the time 'visas for Tajiks', 'visas for Uzbeks', This is a stalemate between the two nations”, he believes.
Rustam Arifdzhanov, member of the Presidium of the All-Russian Azerbaijani Congress, agrees with him: “The introduction of a visa regime with the countries with which we have been together in the former Soviet Union, at a time when Russia is trying, together with Kazakhstan and Belarus, not just to create the CES, but also to expand it, alienates our countries. I think it makes more sense to put our house in order. I think that the FSB and our counter-intelligence know exactly who is engaged in illegal migration, who are increasing the number of migrants in the Russian Federation. You just need to give them the opportunity to solve this problem and to prevent generals - both civilian and military – from protecting this business. That would be a solution to the problem, not the introduction of visas, etc. It is necessary to put things simply in order. The perpetrators are known, but the political will is needed”.
