摘要：Russia’s state policy towards labor migration has passed through several stages. In the fi rst half
of the 1990s, against the backdrop of forced migrations that had literally been inundating the
former Soviet space, this issue was nearly completely ignored by the authorities. In 2007, Russia
liberalized its external labor migration policy. The most positive accomplishment of that initiative
consisted in the fact that migrants, by virtue of being granted work permits, became free players
in the labor market, while employers got an opportunity to attract and employ foreign workers
arriving from ‘visa waiver’ countries without obtaining special permits for attracting foreign labor.
In 2009, Russia imposed tough measures designed to protect its labor market in the interests of the
national workforce and to control unemployment during the current period of economic crisis. In the
framework of those measures, the authorities introduced intricate restrictive norms with regard to
attraction of foreign workers. However, even after the offi cially announced termination of the crisis
the application of the ‘crisis norms’ continued unabated. To put it more bluntly, the forces interested
in large-scale illegal use of foreign labor have thereby scored yet another resounding victory.
