Quote Originally Posted by Hanna View Post
As I understand it there are LOTS of non-Russians in Russia, particularly people from ex Soviet countries.
Since they were drawn into the Russian sphere of interest largely against their will, it seems a bit unfair to discriminate against them now...
So do you think that if Pakistanis, Hindus, Arabs, Africans were in the sphere of England, France ets, they shouldn't be hindered to move there now?
They are not taking jobs that regular Russians want, do they?
Of course there are works where they are needed but it seems there are already more than enough of them and many of them come not to work ...
But on the other hand, no doubt there are the same problems in Russia as we see in Europe, i.e. people arriving who do not fit into society, form criminal gangs etc. Not sure how "Russified" people in Central Asia got during the USSR, but it's clear that they are quite different nowadays.
During the USSR they were satisfied to stay in their republics but when they got the craved freedom they rushed to the oppressor ...
People from some Central Asian and Caucasian countries are eligible for refugee status in parts of the EU, I think. I have seen some such people and heard them speak Russian with an accent.

This is a really complicated question.

At least in Russia you have no "refugees" that draw on the resources of society without working. This is a huge problem in the rest of Northern Europe. People in general hate it, but it just continues regardless.
If they work, then there is less of an issue I think.
In Europe at least there are visa regimes with all those countries but in Russia visa regimes are only for civilized states ...