Russia Needs More Labor Migrants To Implement Ambitious Construction Projects - Kremlin

Russia does not have enough labor migrants to implement ambitious plans, including in the construction sector, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 08th April, 2021) Russia does not have enough labor migrants to implement ambitious plans, including in the construction sector, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.

Commenting on whether the Kremlin noticed a rise in the number of Russians having a negative attitude toward migrants and whether it somehow threatens national security, the presidential spokesman said that he was not familiar with the results of any sociological research on the issue.

"I can only state the reality that, in fact, there have been very few migrants [in Russia] over the past year, and we really do not have enough [labor] migrants to implement our ambitious construction plans, we must build more than now, but we need labor force for this.

The same labor force is needed in agriculture. Therefore, there is certainly a shortage of migrants," Peskov told reporters.

Late last year, the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs told Sputnik that the number of migrants in the country almost halved amid the coronavirus pandemic, adding that there were about six million migrants as of late 2020. Such a significant drop may be explained by the fact that a number of migrants mainly labor workers in large Russian cities returned to their homelands after the outbreak of the pandemic. The outflow of migrants seriously affected the construction sector, the housing and utilities services, as well as consumer services, which usually employ the most newcomers.