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Ex-Finance Minister: Labor migrants may come from Europe

"We shall offer a standard of living no worse than in Europe, and interesting prospects," Alexei Kudrin noted
Photo ITAR-TASS/Artyom Korotayev
Photo ITAR-TASS/Artyom Korotayev

SAINT PETERSBURG, October 22 (Itar-Tass) - Former Russian finance minister and head of the Committee of Civil Initiatives Aleksey Kudrin does not rule out that labor migrants may one day come to Russia from Europe.

“It is quite possible that labor migrants will one day come to Russia from Europe - Spain, Eastern European countries - as we shall offer a standard of living no worse than in Europe, and interesting prospects,” he told journalists at the All Russia Forum on Strategic Planning in St. Petersburg. “People are already coming from abroad and there may be more of them in the future,” Kudrin said, noting certainty that Russia needed migrants. “But anyway, migration is to be regulated, it is to be legal,” he said, adding that employers should “give preference to a skilled labor force from the Russian regions”.

Kudrin forecast that Russia would see a labor force shortage in coming years. “Even in the spheres where we see an excessive number of employees or a lack of jobs, this is mainly due to structural unemployment,” Kudrin said.