Moscow sinks into mud without asian street cleaners

Moscow. February 3. KyrTAG – Gulnara Bolotbekova. Economic crisis in Russia and new requirements to migration law have sharply cut number of worker migrants from Central Asia. According to chief of Russian migration service (FMS) Konstantin Romadonovskiy , the number of migrants, working in Russian Federation fell by 70%. But at the same time, the number of Ukrainian citizens entering Russia is growing. 

When one hears a word «migrant» an image of a worker with a trowel or a yard-cleaner with a broom comes to mind, which in reality reflects the picture of using work force of migrants, who hail from central asian countries. Yards and streets of many russian cities are serving for long time as a work place for thousands of citizens of Central Asia. It can be especially felt in Moscow, but today, when migrants began to return home, city residents grumble, uncleaned yards with snow drifts, ice-covered pavements and trash are getting to be a headache for municipal workers.  

As one of Moscow residents, Larisa Svetikova told KyrTAG, the city has not seen such phenomenon for a long time.  
«We repeatedly turned  to housing and communal services, but the reply is just one – we lack workers. Residents of multy-story houses go out and clean the yards themselves», - she said.

During survey, conducted by the correspondent of KyrTAG, moskovites since 90s have not seen street cleaners of slavic appearance, and since the new year they arose everywhere.

It is noteworthy, that currently there is a sharp reduction of workplaces and salaries in Moscow. If average salary of a migrant before was 30-35 thousand rubles, then today it fell down to 25 thousand.

Also since January 1 2015 «On Legal Status of Foreign Citizens in Russia» was amended, by which, foreigners, who do not need russian visa, can work in Russia only with patent.

But new amendments to migration laws of Russia did not make kyrgyz migranst leave Russia in large quantities, like citizens of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan did. According to offical data, if a month ago there have been 554 thousand kyrgyzstanis, then today their number fell to 544 thousand. Only 10 thousand kyrgyzstanis returned home. And the rest have taken waiting attitude.  

Migrants think, that kyrgyz government must talk to Moscow, in terms of amendments to migration laws, given the fact, that Kyrgyzstan joins EAEU.

«We are not asking for anything from our government. We try to sustain our families ourselves. It became harder to work here, falling rate of ruble, economic crisis, jump in prices – all this, is enough to drive us to a dead end. But we can not go back home, there are no jobs there», - said kyrgyzstani Maksat Gapyrov.

«Before many of our fellow countrymen used to work as street cleaners. Now many work in companies and offices. But, the recent enforcement of migration requirements  have badly undermined financial condition of our compatriots», - said public avtivist Kubanychbek Kozhoev.

Representatives of kyrgyz diaspora ask kyrgyz migrants to wait untill May. In order to avoid needless spendings, it is worth to return home and wait untill Kyrgyzstan officially joins EAEU, which will enable kyrgyz migrants to stay and work in Russia just with a passport and a migrationcard.