Xenophobia in Russia is escalating — the monstrous terrorist attack on March 22 in Moscow triggered a reciprocal negative reaction.
It is now known that 11 people were involved in the terrorist act, with the majority of them being natives of Tajikistan (citizenship is being clarified). As a result, some politicians have begun to demand stricter immigration policies.
Renowned Kazakhstani political analyst Gaziz Abishev cites the statement of Russian State Duma deputy Sergey Mironov as an example of such demands, stating that Mironov «adopted the theses of Alexei Navalny from a decade ago and proposed introducing a visa regime with Central Asian countries.»
On his Telegram channel, Abishev writes that this populist idea is generally untenable and is unlikely to be implemented. He writes: «Kazakhstan has nothing to worry about. There will certainly be no visa regime introduced between Russia and Kazakhstan, regardless of Mironov’s demands. An attempt to introduce such a regime will lead to retaliatory measures from Kazakhstan, which will undoubtedly strike at the ideology of the ‘freedom of the EAEU.’ Where this course will lead is difficult to predict. It’s another matter — civilized control over incoming flows of unskilled labor. This is relevant for many industrialized countries in the world. But not for bilateral relations between Kazakhstan and Russia.»
