Poll: Russians don't like immigrants

According to the results of a public survey, after the tragedy in Crocus City Hall, 55-60 percent of Russians have a "clearly negative" opinion of migrant workers.

The tragedy at "Crocus City Hall" caused a wave of anti-migrant sentiment among Russians. "Verstka" writes about this based on a closed poll of the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM).

According to the results of the social survey of V Ts IOM, at the beginning of April of this year, labor migrants aroused a "clearly negative" attitude of 55-60 percent of Russian citizens, while 30 percent of respondents expressed a "positive" attitude. Eight months ago, at the beginning of last autumn, 40% of respondents had a negative attitude towards migrants.

Nearly half of respondents reported that they and their social circle had treated migrant workers worse because of the Crocus shooting . Nearly two-thirds believe that attitudes toward immigrants will worsen over time. A little more than a third of the respondents believe that the tragedy in the Moscow concert hall would not have happened if the migration policy in the Russian Federation had been stricter.

" Verstka " reports that more than 2,500 respondents took part in the surveys.

A survey conducted by Levada, another Russian research center, also showed the results of an increase in the feeling of xenophobia (negative attitude towards foreigners) among Russian citizens. According to Levada, a quarter of respondents believe that there is a problem with the "flow of immigrants ".

After the tragedy in " Crocus City Hall ", the Russian government took a number of measures to strengthen the migration policy. Several draft laws were developed, the length of stay of foreigners was shortened (from 180 days to 90 days a year), and the procedure for passing the Russian language exam for foreigners was strengthened. Also, in a number of regions, the fields in which labor migrants can work have been sharply reduced.