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Duma speaker calls for law requiring labour migrants to know Russian lng

Russia needs a law that would require labour migrants to know the Russian language

PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, September 10 (Itar-Tass) —— Russia needs a law that would require labour migrants to know the Russian language, State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov said.

“I think migrants who come here to work make up about 10 percent of the population now,” Gryzlov told Russia 1 television channel’s Vesti v Subbotu (Saturday News) programme on September 10.

“I think the time has come to adopt a law making the Russian language obligatory for a person entering the country to obtain a work permit in Russia,” he said.

Gryzlov believes that only by knowing the language can a person know “our laws and be law-abiding and protected” because “the law not only requires us to do something, but it also protects us”.

A person will have to take a test to show the knowledge of Russian. “I am not saying it will be an examination in the Russian language, but some kind of a test; and only by passing a test can a person obtain a work permit in Russia,” he said.

In his opinion, such tests should be given and accepted by the Russian consulates in the countries where labour migrants seek to go to Russia for work.