Russia, facing labor problems exacerbated by the war, looked to India for workers
MOSCOW – A group of tired-looking Indian men carrying sports bags lined up at passport control at a busy Moscow airport one evening after flying more than 2,700 miles – and through Uzbekistan – for work.
“I have a one-year contract. In the garbage disposal business. The money is good,” said Ajit, one of the men, speaking in English.
Faced with what the authorities say is an immediate shortage of at least 2.3 million workers, a shortage exacerbated by the severity of Russia’s war in Ukraine and which Russia’s traditional source of foreign labor – Central Asians – cannot fill, Moscow is turning to a new supplier: India.
INDIAN INFLUX HELPS RUSSIA CREATE LABOR DEFICIT
In 2021, a year before Russia sent its troops to Ukraine, around 5,000 work permits were approved for Indians. Last year, about 72,000 permits were granted to Indians – about a third of the annual total number of migrant workers using visas.
“Right now, migrant workers from India are very popular,” said Alexei Filipenkov, director of a company that brings in workers from India.
He said workers from Soviet Central Asia, who do not need visas, have stopped coming in sufficient numbers. Official statistics show they still made up the majority of the 2.3 million legal immigrant workers who did not need visas last year.
But a weak ruble, stricter immigration rules, and harsh anti-immigrant rhetoric from Russian politicians have decimated their numbers and prompted Moscow to raise visa prices for workers from elsewhere.
India’s selection of unskilled labor reflects the strong defense and economic ties between Moscow and New Delhi.
India has been buying Russian oil that Moscow – because of Western sanctions – can easily sell elsewhere, although that possibility is now in question.
President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi signed an agreement in December to make it easier for Indians to work in Russia. Denis Manturov, Russia’s first deputy prime minister, said at the time that Russia could accept an “unlimited number” of Indian workers.
At least 800,000 people were needed in manufacturing, and another 1.5 million in the services and construction sectors, he said.
INDIANS WORK IN RUSSIAN FARMS AND FARMS
Brera Intex, a Moscow textile company, employs about 10 workers from South Asia, including Indians, to make curtains and bed linen.
Sitting at a sewing machine, 23-year-old Gaurav from India said he had been working in Russia for three months.
“I was told to come (over) here, that the job and the money are good,” he said. “Life in Russia is very good.”
Married with two children, he said he spoke to his family in India on the phone every day and told them he missed them.
Olga Lugovskaya, the owner of the company, said that the employees – with the help of samples and guidance – took the job on time and were highly motivated.
“Some of the boys who came in didn’t even know how to put a sewing machine on,” he said. “(But) after two or three months, you can be confident that they will sew the right finished product.”
Outside Moscow, the Sergiyevsky farm relies on Indian workers as well, using them to process and pack vegetables for a salary of around 50,000 rubles ($660) a month, a wage that locals say the farm would not work for.
“I have been working here, in Sergiyevsky, for one year,” said Sahil, 23, who said he was from the Indian state of Punjab.
“In India there is little money, but here there is a lot of money. The work is there.”
US pressure for India to freeze its purchases of Russian oil – something President Donald J. Trump has linked to a trade deal between the United States and India announced this month – could still dampen Moscow’s appetite for Indian workers.
But for now, it is unclear how New Delhi will restore oil purchases, and Moscow has played down any suggestion of a rift. – Reuters
