17 March 2026
The Ministry of Internal Affairs’s bill proposes mandatory deportations for foreign citizens who commit administrative offences under 20 different articles of the Code of Administrative Offences
Source: Agency for Social Information
The list of offences for which migrants, in line with this white paper, would be deported from Russia without exception, includes involvement in unsanctioned political rallies and strikes, working for organisations deemed by the Ministry of Justice as ‘undesirable’, violations of rules of behaviour in emergency situations, petty hooliganism and disobeying police orders, and abuse of media outlets, according to the media outlet Kommersant.
In addition to adding to the list of legal grounds for deportation, the white paper provisions also include increases in fines for violations of 14 different sections of the Code of Administrative Offences relating to travel and working illegally. These actions are meant to curtail illegal activities committed by foreigners: Ministry of Internal Affairs statistics indicate that in the last two years, there have been around one hundred large-scale violent incidents in which migrants have been involved.
Vadim Kozhenov, head of the Migrant Help Centre, said that the white paper continues a general trend of toughening controls over migration which began in 2025 after the release of the Register of Restricted Persons and mandatory location updates for migrants in various Russian regions.
Specialists claim that even though labour migrants rarely commit political offences, these new legal provisions will significantly simplify the work of law enforcement agencies, making deportation an automatic punishment regardless of the discretion of the court.
Ministry of Internal Affairs statistics indicate that the number of foreign citizens in Russia fell by 10% and there were in all 5.7 million foreign citizens in Russia at the start of 2026.
Translated by Oscar Seecharan
