MOSCOW, November 2. /TASS/. Russian regions should actively participate in implementing the country’s new migration policy concept, Director of the Foreign Ministry’s Department for Relations with Compatriots Living Abroad Oleg Malginov said in an interview with TASS. He pointed out that the new concept aimed to facilitate the granting of Russian citizenship and the resettlement of compatriots to Russia.
"The resettlement of large groups of people raises the issues concerning cultural and linguistic compatibility, security, healthcare, education, social services and so on," Malginov said. "It means that regional authorities should be involved in the process, they need to have willingness and resources to welcome these people," he added.
The senior diplomat stressed that there was a need to accomplish a number of practical tasks to implement the new concept, particularly providing a legal basis for it. However, in his words, often times it is the people who help solve these issues.
"If we seek to direct the resettlement process to the Far East and Siberia and close access to the central regions due to their overpopulation, this is one thing. But when the migration policy is not tied to certain regions but is aimed at creating new growth points instead of controlling people’s movement, then they start solving some issues themselves," Malginov noted.
On October 31, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced, addressing the Sixth World Congress of Russian Compatriots Living Abroad that he had signed a new migration policy concept aimed at creating conditions for compatriots’ resettlement in Russia, outlining clear rules for entering the country and obtaining rights to residency, work permits and Russian citizenship.