Moskovsky Komsomolets
Searching for the fires of hell in Paradise
Late last week, security officers made a routine visit to the club Rai (“Paradise”) on downtown Moscow’s Bolotnaya Embankment. The club hit the headlines a few weeks ago after it hosted an “I love Putin” party, which Kremlin officials actively opposed. Now the club faces a fine for violating fire safety regulations.
The Zamoskvoretsky inter-district prosecutor's office reported that the club’s violations are not critical, so will not be closed down. In particular, it appeared that the club lacks a uniformly distributed automatic fire extinguishing system. Also, it did not keep a log of fire safety training, and some fire extinguishers had missing serial numbers. These violations cost the club 10,000 rubles ($350.) The club told Moskovsky Komsomolets that it is in full compliance with current fire safety regulations.
Many of the club’s frequenters linked the firefighters' visit with the scandalous party “in honor” of Putin, and see it as a kind of revenge by those in power. Sharp criticism of the people who organized the party only added fuel to the fire. But security officials explained that the inspection had been planned long before the event was held. Moreover, it was not even the fire department that initiated the inspection, but the Federal Security Service. Fire inspectors visited the club in 2009 and found several violations, which were subsequently dealt with. After the explosion at Domodedovo Airport, intelligence officers regularly visit crowded places.
Gazeta.ru
Russian census confirms population decline
Russia’s population has, predictably, declined over the past eight years while the disparity in the gender ratio has worsened, according to the preliminary results of the 2010 census that the federal statistics service released on Monday.
“This is not surprising – the census has confirmed the continuing trends,” said Yevgeny Gontmakher, director of the Center for Social Studies at the Institute of Economics. “That is what a census is for – it provides a more accurate and detailed picture. Births, deaths and migration data are in any case constantly monitored.”
The total population declined 1.6%, to 142.9 million, according to data posted on the Rosstat website. However, 20 regions showed some growth, including Moscow and the Moscow Region, St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, the Krasnodar Territory and the Astrakhan Region.
Surprisingly, the North Caucasus is also among growth leaders: the number of residents grew 15% in Chechnya and 15.6% in Dagestan, outpacing Moscow’s 10.9%. Ingushetia, another autonomous republic in North Caucasus, registered a 12% decline.
Three other Russian regions, the Komi-Permyak and Taimyr autonomous areas, and the Kamchatka Territory, recorded a significant decline.
More people have moved to cities: Russia’s urban population increased 0.4%, to 73.7% of the total. This trend is most pronounced in the Central and Northwestern Federal Districts. In the Urals and Far Eastern Districts however, more people have apparently moved to the countryside.
There are 10.5 million more women than men in Russia. Women account for 56.2% of the population in Ingushetia, which is followed by the Yaroslavl, Ivanovo, Tula and Novgorod regions. In St. Petersburg, the imbalance is slightly worse than in Moscow. Only one region, Chukotka, has 0.1% more men than women.
“There are more women than men in any developed country,” Gontmakher said. “In Russia, this happens because of a high mortality rate among middle-aged men. We already knew that, but the census gave more precise figures.”
He believes the census data is quite reliable and there are no significant errors. Lyudmila Rzhanitsyna, also from the Institute of Economics, said the census takers have added an extra million people.
“According to official statistics, there are 141.9 million people in Russia,” she said. “I heard that in Moscow, many people refused to take part in the census, so the data is based on building registers and recent voter lists. An extra million is a lot; it could impact the city’s housing and road construction policies.”
There is a good gender balance among younger people, Rzhanitsyna said. The number of women begins to exceed that of men only in people aged 29 and over. At 70, the number of women is twice the number of their male peers.
“I am looking forward to seeing more census data for specific regions. I am especially interested in employment figures,” Gontmakher said.
Izvestia
Russia may scrap migrant worker quota
Russia could see a drastic change in its attitude to migrant workers if a migration policy strategy that is to be discussed at a government commission on March 30 comes into force. The document, drawn up by the Federal Migration Service and to be examined by the commission led by First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, abolishes all quotas for “guest workers”, making them easier to hire.
Currently, migrant workers account for 7- 9% of Russia’s GDP. But despite the issue’s importance, the government has no clear-cut view on whether or not it needs foreign labor. “Our migration policy is changeable, with quotas increasing or falling depending on the current political situation,” explains Vladimir Volokh, a member of the migration service’s public council.
The new strategy would eliminate quotas altogether. “As a mechanism they are far from perfect – they tend to just be plucked out of thin air,” says Vladimir Mukomel, PhD (Sociology), one of the strategy’s authors. “Besides, quotas are clearly calculated with large enterprises in mind because employers have to state their needs looking ahead a year, although it is small and medium-sized businesses that mainly take advantage of outside workforce.”
Obtaining an official work permit is difficult for a migrant worker. Not surprisingly, over 60% of Russia’s immigrants work illegally. Russia’s 2011 official quota for foreign workers, for example, is 1,754,000, while the real figure is closer to 4 or 5 million. In Volokh’s view, this figure has been steady for the past five years. “We have a fairly absurd situation: we allow job-seekers from former Soviet republics to enter Russia visa-free, while littering work permit formalities with all sorts of hurdles, prompting them to go outside the law,” Volokh says.
The new strategy cuts the formalities right down. This will let foreign workers “emerge from the shadows” because employers will have to pay them official wages and deduct taxes.
Another important aspect, in addition to the economic one, is that of the population size. Russia is still unable to slow down the downward trend in population growth (as the recent census shows.)
“We need to invite several hundred thousand people to live in Russia on a permanent basis every year to compensate for this reduction in labor force,” Mukomel claims. But this creates another problem: integration. A highly unorthodox solution is being offered: the opening of special training centers in countries likely to act as pools of foreign labor. These centers would teach future immigrants the Russian language, the basic laws of the land and some professional skills.
But the most challenging issue is the way Russian society is likely to react to this migration reform. So far, the prevailing mood favors barring all such workers. The strategy makers admit that attempts to adopt the new plan will be doomed unless a strong public campaign is launched under the catchphrase “why we need migrant workers.”
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