Valdai Club

Flexible use of migration policy instruments remains an important key to creating an atmosphere of mutually beneficial cooperation and good-neighbourliness throughout Eurasia, writes Dmitry Poletaev.

The geopolitical landscape has changed beyond recognition in the time since the first Russia-Africa Summit was held in the autumn of 2019, laying the groundwork for an ambitious programme to expand Russia’s cooperation with Africa.

The policy regarding the integration and adaptation of migrants in the Russian Federation lacks a comprehensive nature, which is most clearly noticeable in relation to African migrants, as they are very different from migrants from the countries of the post-Soviet space. This necessitates the modernisation of this component of Russian migration policy, writes Valdai Club expert Dmitry Poletaev.

The host countries’ societies do not always appreciate a seemingly obvious fact: migrants are not just a “workforce” or some “median population.” They move from one country to another in search of jobs and better life opportunities. They have their own problems and vulnerabilities.

Russia has the image of a country that does not consider refugees to be a promising category for increasing the country’s population, and the very procedure to first obtain official refugee status, and on the basis of this status gain citizenship in the Russian Federation, is quite difficult for Afghans, writes Valdai Club expert Dmitry Poletaev.

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely limited international migration due to border closures and has forced millions of people to return home. According to expert estimates, the pandemic reduced the number of international migrants by the middle of 2020 by about 2 million people: to 281 million people instead of the expected 283 million people.

Despite the decline in global migration in 2020, host countries around the world are waiting for the resumption of migration inflows. It is often difficult to heal the disease of migrantophobia and the issue of final recovery is not on the agenda yet, Valdai Club expert Dmitry Poletayev writes.

The pandemic has shown that, despite all the measures taken, migrantophobia, both in those countries that are taking steps to eliminate it, and in those countries where a solution to this problem is not a priority, can quickly grow and become a reliable weapon in the arsenal of populist politicians seeking to gain popularity, writes Dmitry Poletaev

One of the key current trends in global politics is the gradual shift from ‘pure’ geopolitics and the hard/soft power of sovereign states to global problems (environmental, resource, demographic, and social). The past decade saw the term ‘global problems’ itself crystallize into a new concept, the Global Commons, understood in a narrowly environmental and a broader social sense. It is discussed both at the UN in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals and at various international venues.

The year of 2019 is the Year of Africa in Russia. The first Russia–Africa Summit, held in October 2019, marked a turning point in Russia’s new strategy to return to Africa and promote major initiatives to facilitate development on this continent.