When it became known that Russia has toughened migration laws, people in Armenia who see “destruction” and “critical moment” in everything, said, that’s the end, now all migrant laborers will return home, the “transfers”, with which most of the population in Armenia was living, will stop, and the country will eventually be destroyed. When the Secretary of RA National Security Council, Arthur Baghdasaryan, turned to his Russian counterpart with a request to make exceptions for Armenians on this matter, the same people said that it is senseless, Russia will not make any exceptions for us, we should not abase ourselves, as for Armenia, it’s all the same, it will be destroyed. Now, when the Russian side says that probably it will come to meet our people, the same people say that the authorities of Armenia and Russia are jointly developing a plan for migration for our country to be surely destroyed. For the time being, putting the intentions of our authorities aside, let’s note that often repeated thesis that Russia is responsible for our migration, does not contain any factual basis behind it.
Russia, of course, is not the most developed and the most democratic country in the world, and at this time the behavior of this country about Ukraine, I think, is not adequate. It doesn’t worth to “give a tone” to former President Yanukovych who apparently plundered his people and even boasting with his own corruption, moreover, no need to instigating disorders in the Crimea. In long-term perspective, nothing will turn out from these two initiatives, and an unpleasant aftertaste will remain between fraternal (indeed, without any irony, brotherhood) nations.
But to attribute intentions to Russia, which it does not have, and to think in a paranoid style that people in the Kremlin are thinking day and night about intrigues against Armenians, it is the other extreme. In particular, Russia has nothing to do with our immigration. It is clear that if there is no demand for labor in the Armenian labor market, people tend to the countries where they have the opportunity to apply their capabilities. For the Armenian craftsman, it is first and foremost Russia, where there is no language barrier to communicate, and where there are jobs openings. Everything is so clear.
It’s worth to negotiate for more favorable migration regime, first, because it would facilitate the lives of our countrymen, secondly, easy to come and go, less likely to stay there. If “staying” is managed to be by the cost of great sacrifices or big bribes, people will think harder before taking the road to come back. Followed by the same logic, it is positive that the visa regime with the Schengen countries is facilitated.
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And as to why and whose fault it is that there are no job openings in Armenia, this is already a different topic.
Aram ABRAHAMYAN
