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In recent weeks, the community of foreigners in Russia has been in turmoil. The authorities want to impose on them a battery of very broad medical tests and that every three months.
From our correspondent in Moscow,
The main foreign trade-related companies signed a letter to the authorities. The Franco-Russian, Franco-German and United States chambers of commerce are also signatories. In particular, this sentence ” For a long time now, no piece of legislation has sparked such a wave of misunderstanding, frustration and indignation among thousands of foreign senior executives ».
All foreigners working in Russia, but also their families, children from the age of 7 included – this is the text of the law scheduled to come into force on December 29 – to pass a battery of exams. X-rays, scanners, blood and urine tests for diseases such as leprosy, tuberculosis, syphilis, HIV. Potential drug use will also be checked. On top of that, you’ll have to go past addiction therapists, psychiatrists, infectious disease experts and of course pay for that entire battery of tests.
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A decision of the presidential administration
No choice, all this must take place in a dedicated center several tens of kilometers from Moscow and these famous medical tests must also be done every three months. Failure to pass them, not to transmit the results to the authorities, is to expose oneself to serious consequences including withdrawal of the work permit, withdrawal of visa until classification as “undesirable”. This label amounts to de facto immediate expulsion from the territory.
The Franco-Russian Chamber of Commerce explains that the decision does not come from the government, but from the presidential administration. This is why this letter from the associations of entrepreneurs is, of course, addressed to the ministers of Health, the Interior, Industry and Trade, but also and above all to the economic sherpa of Vladimir Poutin.
Measures with unclear objectives
What is certain is that it will not improve the atmosphere for foreigners or the business climate in Russia, which is already not very good. For unskilled immigration, overwhelmingly workers from Central Asia, there is already a labor shortage. This was the case even before the start of the pandemic and the phenomenon has worsened since.
At the end of the chain, we see an explosion in delivery rates, for example, a real brake on the economy while monthly inflation is breaking records: more than 8% on an annual basis. For expatriate Western executives, this is a reversal from years of attempts to make Russia more attractive, including a simplified visa system for so-called highly qualified business personnel. Foreign direct investment in Russia is at its lowest since 2003.
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