Some time ago, everyone was quite alarmed by reports that Moscow would effectively create ghettos—special settlements for migrants. It was unclear what this actually meant, so I filed an official inquiry. Here is the response:
The key phrase here is "taking into account the opinion of district residents." I do not believe any of this talk about them being "located in industrial zones and far from residential areas." And I do not believe it primarily because the main request in my inquiry was to provide the exact addresses of the proposed temporary autonomous residential camps (VAG) and state what stage the permitting documentation for them is at. The response contains neither. I am convinced this information is being concealed so that residents of nearby buildings do not raise an uproar. One of the earliest publications gave approximate street locations for these settlements, and one of these VAG sites is supposed to be near the school my daughter attends. There is no industrial zone there. I think everyone can easily imagine how parents feel about that. Personally, I will do everything possible to make sure no migrant settlement appears next to our school. I am absolutely certain that nowhere in Moscow will City Hall find a single place where residents express a "positive opinion." I can say this with complete confidence because after the reports that one of the VAG sites would be here in Maryino, a huge number of neighbors came up to me. Most of them do not really know what I do—"something to do with politics," apparently. But every one of them said the same thing: "Come on, do something about it, get people organized. We’ll sign a petition or go to a demonstration." I suggest the following immediate course of action: First, find out the exact addresses of these "migrant settlements." For each address, create an initiative group that will clearly and explicitly formulate "the opinion of local residents on the placement of migrant labor settlements." After that, we will adjust our efforts depending on what steps City Hall takes. And I want to send a separate message to those who will come running in shouting, "Xenophobia! You’re inciting hatred! Provoking people! Exploiting the mob’s darker instincts!" and to those who will start their usual refrain, "And where are we supposed to get street cleaners?! Muscovites have gotten lazy, we’ll be buried in filth!" The purpose of these actions is to achieve equality and respect for human rights regardless of nationality, origin, or citizenship. Exactly that. We must not allow second-class people to live in Moscow. Still less should this second-class status be entrenched by the actions of the authorities themselves. I cannot imagine that in the 21st century, in my city, people would live in some kind of barracks-like ghettos under police supervision or the control of a local overseer. And I can imagine what these unfortunate people will feel when they look at those "first-class" residents who live in normal apartments (note that there will be no centralized hot water supply in these settlements). My position is very simple: any person living in Moscow should have the opportunity to live, if not well, then at least with dignity. Life in a ghetto will cultivate hatred toward the surrounding world in the people forced to live there. If the Moscow government brings in migrants for its own needs or for the needs of its enterprises, then it should pay them enough to rent decent housing, eat properly, and dress not in torn rags in the style of "Peshawar-83" (a sarcastic reference to shabby clothing associated with migrant laborers), but in respectable clothes suitable for everyday life in Moscow. And they should be able to wash their clothes at home or at a laundromat, not in the Moskva River, as I periodically see while walking with my child in Maryino Park. They used to allocate separate municipal apartments for janitors and similar workers—so what now? Has the budget gotten smaller? It seems to me that if City Hall paid migrants wages that allowed them to live in conditions approaching basic human standards, the authorities’ zeal for bringing in more and more newcomers would cool considerably. And if the much-praised "economic efficiency of migrants" boils down to the formula "we pay next to nothing, migrants live like animals, and Muscovites pay the social price of that degrading existence," then personally, I do not accept that arrangement. If Luzhkov (then mayor of Moscow) wants this, well then, "in consultation with residents," he can put a VAG on the grounds of his own dacha (country house). There is room for a very large VAG there. Notes on the subject: What is a VAG? The project provides for placing 50 such containers in a single settlement, arranged in two tiers. The main block-container is a heavy steel frame structure measuring 6.0 × 2.4 × 2.6 m. The containers include living units for two people, as well as sanitary, utility, and corridor spaces. Insulation is mineral wool; the interior cladding is 8 mm chipboard panels. The windows are PVC, glazed with insulating double-layer frosted glass. The settlement is a temporary structure with a trussed roof and a corridor layout. For evacuation from the second floor, there is one central staircase and two external staircases. Cold water supply is provided either from main utility lines laid near the settlement or from a well. There will be no centralized hot water system in the settlements, so individual water heaters are предусмотрены. The settlements are also expected to be connected to a telephone line and equipped with radio and television antennas. A security room will be provided, and a video intercom will be installed at the entrance to control access. In addition, the settlements are promised to have automatic fire alarm systems and fire warning systems. RESOLUTION of August 21, 2007 No. 711-PP. ON THE MOSCOW CITY TARGET MIGRATION PROGRAM FOR 2008–2010 (Word file at this link). Resolution of July 22, 2008 No. 591-PP. On measures to optimize the recruitment of foreign workers for enterprises in the city of Moscow. Together with appendices. Here