Police stand guard outside Moscow’s Central Sobornaya Mosque as Muslims gather to celebrate Eid, 10 April 2024. Photo: EPA-EFE / YURI KOCHETKOV
Dozens of foreigners legally residing in Russia have found their names appearing in error on the Interior Ministry’s National Register of Illegal Migrants, human rights activist Valentina Chupik told independent media outlet Agentstvo on Thursday.
Chupik said she had received complaints from 31 citizens of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan since the register was launched on Wednesday following a change in the law last summer.
Of the 31 migrants to contact Chupik, not one had been notified about their inclusion in the register. Seventeen of those who contacted Chupik reported having their bank accounts frozen, while four said they had been detained by the police. Another four migrants said they had been denied entry to Russia due to their inclusion in the register, and one had been fired from his job.
“In view of the fact that anyone can end up on the register, I advise all migrants to urgently withdraw all but the bare minimum from their bank accounts and send the money home,” Chupik said.
“Hundreds of foreigners” in Russia have now had their bank accounts frozen since being placed on the register in error, according to Telegram channel Baza, which added that all those it had spoken to said that they were in Russia legally.
Since Wednesday, any foreigner found to be in Russia illegally will have their name added to the register and be required to inform local police of their current whereabouts. Anyone on the register is prohibited from buying real estate, driving a car, travelling within Russia, getting married, or opening a bank account, and ultimately faces expulsion from the country, with the police now authorised to order repatriations without first going to court.
