MOSCOW, April 8. /TASS/. Russia has experienced a significant drop in the amount of migrants over the past year, and now their numbers are not sufficient to implement ambitious projects, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday.
When asked whether the Kremlin documented any development of discontent among Russians towards migrants and whether they consider this a potential threat to the country's security, Peskov replied: "To be honest, I am not familiar with the records of any sociological research on the attitude of Russians towards migrants, so I cannot comment on it, nor will I do so."
"I can only speak about the real state of affairs, which suggests that, in fact, we have very few migrants remaining over the past year. Actually, we have a severe dearth of these migrants to implement our ambitious plans," the Kremlin spokesman pointed out.
In particular, it concerns projects in construction sector, he noted.
"We need to build more than we are building now. It should be more tangible. But this requires working hands. Now there are few of them due to the pandemic," Peskov said.
The Kremlin official noted that agricultural sector also needs migrant workers. "There is certainly a shortage in migrants," he summed up.
Speaking about the registration of children of migrants, the Kremlin official noted that this topic was touched upon at a recent meeting of the Presidential Council for Interethnic Relations.
"We must understand who they are, how many of them are there," he explained.
"And, of course, Russia as a state must provide conditions for the children of migrants so that they adapt to the Russian society - multinational, multi-confessional," the official stressed. Peskov noted that in general the work on registration of children of migrants is underway.
When asked about the registration of the number of migrant children in schools Peskov replied:
"If I am not mistaken, no decisions have been made in this regard. Therefore, I cannot say anything here."
Earlier this month, the Interior Ministry told TASS that it was working on a bill that will allow foreigners and persons without citizenship to legalize their stay in Russia. The initiative implies that all persons, who stay in Russia with violations of established rules for migrants on the date the new federal law comes into force will be given an opportunity to settle their legal status within a certain period of time, the ministry’s official explained. The law is also aimed at regulating the legal status, providing for the issuance of temporary identity cards for a period of ten years for stateless persons in the territory of the Russian Federation. It will enter into force on August 24, 2021.