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Migrants will have to learn Russian

Russia’s State Duma has approved in the first reading addendums to the Law “On legal status of foreign citizens in the Russian Federation

MOSCOW, November 23 (Itar-Tass World Service) - Russia’s State Duma has approved in the first reading addendums to the Law “On legal status of foreign citizens in the Russian Federation,” which make migrants obliged to present documents proving their basic command of the Russian language as they get employed in trade, house maintenance and service sectors. This law will favour lowering inter-national conflicts.

Migrants will have to prove the command of the Russian language in advance, that is prior to their entering the territory of Russia, and besides, they should have a document proving the knowledge, the Komsomolskaya Pravda writes. At the same time, a state document on completion of education until September 1, 1991 in the territory of the former Soviet Union or in the territory of Russia following September 1, 1991 may be a proof of knowledge of the Russian language. Another legal proof will be a certificate about passing a test in the Russian language, issued in compliance with requirements of Russia’s ministry of education. According to the requirements, an applicant should be able to read simple texts from different sources, to write a short letter, a greeting, to give a summary of a source-text using given questions.

There is a new problem, we have been facing lately, the Moskovsky Komsomolets writes. Russia’s clients suddenly lost a possibility to speak to a plumber, who comes to repair a pipe, or to a cashier who makes a mistake in a receipt. The reason is that this specialist may have a command of Kyrgyz or Tajik, but the client does not speak any of those languages.

Now this linguistic conflict will be solved.

By the way, “command of the Russian language is not only an obligation for a migrant, but also a protection from possible violation of his or her rights,” the State Duma stressed. “Besides, this measure will favour promotion of the Russian language in the CIS space, and will lower risks of social tension in the society.” Russia is not a pioneer in the approach of the kind: many countries receiving migrants massively have a norm, where migrants should know the state language. The list of countries includes for example the USA, Germany, Australia or New Zealand, the newspaper concludes.

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