Readmission, return and reintegration : the Russian Federation

Abstract

The acceptance of Russian citizens residing abroad and returning to Russia voluntarily or by force is not so relevant for the Russian Federation (although, obviously the problems of their integration are underestimated and ignored), as are the issues of the return of foreign citizens and stateless persons, especially those who violated national legislation, or under readmission agreements. The problem is aggravated by the fact that, readmission agreements have not been signed with most of the donor states from which migrants arrive to Russia on a massive scale. In fact, most of the migrants arrive from the countries that have visa-free regimes with the Russian Federation. The latter circumstance, allied to the inefficient organization of expulsion of undesired foreigners from the country, provokes the growth of xenophobic spirit and the popularity of suggestions to introduce visa regimes with donor states; above all, with Central Asian and Transcaucasian states. It is probably fair to say that governmental institutions as well as non-governmental organizations in Russia should pay more attention to the issues of voluntary return of foreign citizens to their countries of citizenship or permanent stay.