Vladimir Putin is reportedly squeezing Russia’s sizeable Asian minority communities to feed his armed forces with fresh recruits.
The US-based think tank Institute for the Study of War reports that minor crimes involving Asian migrants can now see the perpetrator conscripted and forced into military service.
Russia Investigative Committee is also reopening criminal cases involving migrants with the aim of hoovering up more potential recruits.
The ISW report said: “Russian Internal Affairs (MVD) Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev met with the MVD board to discuss ‘migration problems’ and ‘ethnic crime’ and insinuated that migrants commit crimes at a higher rate than natural-born Russian citizens.”
“Kolokoltsev defended recent Russian law enforcement mobilisation raids on migrant communities and claimed that Russian law enforcement is enforcing standard legal norms.”
ISW points out that these efforts create an atmosphere where authorities can more easily justify the use of “mobilisation raids” targeting migrant communities.
The ISW report added: “The insider source claimed that unspecified actors, possibly the MVD or MVD Head Alexander Bastrykin, ordered Russian state media to increase reporting about ethnic crime in Russia, likely to set informational conditions for further mobilization raids on migrant communities.
“Bastrykin has continually advocated for the targeted mobilisation of migrants with Russian citizenship, in line with Russian law enforcement’s recent expansion of its efforts to detain and forcibly register migrants with Russian citizenship for military service.”
Migrant workers in Russia typically come from Central Asian countries like Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan.
The Russian military meanwhile is understood to rely importantly on ethnic minorities for recruits.
The Russian MoD has historically looked to take recruits from ethnic minority communities in improvished regions like Dagestan, Yakutia, and Buryatia.
