Russia - October 2024

Since the deadly terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall in Moscow in March, Russian officials have increasingly infringed on the rights of Central Asian migrants, engaged more frequently in anti-migrant rhetoric, and passed legislation restricting migrant rights in July. The legislation permits police to deport non-citizens without a court order for a wide range of offenses, and deportations in the first seven months of 2024 were up 53 per cent compared to 2023. Attacks and violent raids on businesses where migrants work occur more frequently, and a raid in Yekaterinburg in August where police permitted nationalist volunteers to harass and steal from Central Asian market vendors made national headlines. Nineteen regional authorities across Russia have banned migrants from a wide range of occupations, and increased bureaucracy of migrant-dominated fields like taxi driving have put migrants at higher risk of discrimination. An estimated 3.5 million Central Asian migrants live in Russia, and researchers noted in October the government had stopped providing statistics on migration. 

Sources: iStories, Meduza, International IDEA, 66.ru, Lenta.ru, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty 

The budget the Russian government submitted on 30 September to the State Duma for the years 2025-2027 is set to be the most secretive in the country’s post-Soviet history, with an estimated 31.6 per cent of expenditures marked as classified. An estimated 22.6 per cent of the 2023 budget and 26.8 per cent of the 2024 budget were classified. Analysts suggest the increase is an attempt to obfuscate the amount of state spending being directed to the military, and investigative outlet The Bell noted that even once relatively open Russian business media outlets had refrained from discussing the budget in detail. Military expenditures have also historically been a major source of graft and corruption in Russia. 

Sources: The Bell, Meduza 

Russian media and internet censor Roskomnadzor banned and blocked the messaging and voice over internet protocol (VoIP) app Discord on 8 October, citing failure to comply with a 1 October order to remove 947 pieces of content ostensibly related to terrorism, extremists, drugs, or other “illegal information.” Russian law bans the promotion of what regulators deem extremist, terrorist, or drug-related content. Few legal criteria defining these terms exist in Russian law and regulators and prosecutors are given broad leeway. Russian censors have progressively blocked more and more Western-founded apps since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the government encourages Russian users to adopt locally-owned alternatives. 

Source: TASS, Deutsche Welle, International IDEA