A group of lawmakers in the Russian State Duma is seeking to ban entry into the country for families of migrants that do not have Russian citizenship, RIA Novosti reported on Monday, citing a draft bill.

According to members of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR), the new legislation would remove the right for low-skilled foreign workers to bring their families to Russia, which is currently guaranteed by an employment contract or a labor license.

The current situation has inevitably led to “an uncontrolled migration influx and social tension,” the MPs were cited as saying.

Families of migrant workers “should wait for them at home,” the leader of LDPR, Leonid Slutsky, told RIA Novosti. After arriving in Russia, “they commonly live inside compact groups, speak their own languages, and treat locals with contempt,” he claimed. 

“Come, work, and go home, there shouldn’t be any other conversation,” Slutsky added.

The Russian government’s statistical agency, Rosstat, reported in July that 560,400 migrant workers arrived in the country in 2023, most of whom came from former Soviet republics with Muslim-majority populations. The lion’s share of visitors (31%) arrived from Tajikistan, while 10% came from Kyrgyzstan. Ukraine, Armenia, and Kazakhstan each accounted for 9% of the total number of migrants, while 4% arrived from Uzbekistan.

Earlier this year, State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin announced plans to tighten the country’s immigration laws. The top MP said that 25 draft bills aimed at regulating migration control, determining the legal status of foreign citizens, as well as issues related to the granting of citizenship were on the agenda in the lower house of parliament.

The focus on migrant policies has increased in Russia following the terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall concert venue outside Moscow on March 22, in which over 140 people were killed. The four gunmen involved were later found to be citizens of Tajikistan. Investigators have also said that some of them had expired Russian immigration documents.

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