The Minister of Internal Affairs of Russia has initiated a bill that implies the forced deportation of foreigners for 20 types of offenses.
According to "Kommersant," the draft amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses were reviewed at a government commission meeting on legislative activity on March 16.
According to the document obtained by the publication, courts may impose deportation as a punishment for violations such as non-compliance with emergency regulations, participation in the activities of undesirable foreign organizations, involvement in unauthorized protests, coercion to participate in or refrain from participating in strikes, as well as petty hooliganism in case of disobedience to the police.
The explanatory note to the draft states that the changes are necessary due to the "intensification of illegal activities" among foreign citizens. The document also reports ongoing cases of mass brawls and riots involving migrants.
Vadim Kozenov, head of the Migrant Assistance Center, noted in an interview with "Kommersant" that labor migrants are generally not prone to the mass offenses for which punishments are proposed to be intensified, as they are already deported for fights for a period of 30 to 40 years.
According to the Federal Security Service of Russia, in 2025, foreigners (mainly from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and China) made 15.6 million trips to Russia (compared to 16.7 million in 2024). At the same time, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the number of foreign citizens in Russia decreased to 5.7 million by the beginning of 2026, which is a 10% decrease compared to the previous year.
The Russian authorities began tightening migration policy after the terrorist attack at "Krokus City Hall" in the Moscow region in March 2024. In addition to introducing a registry of controlled persons, which one can enter even by mistake, and a mandatory Russian language test for foreign children upon school enrollment, the Russian authorities have also restricted the ability to obtain residence permits in a simplified manner for foreign spouses of Russian citizens and 18-year-old children of foreign citizens if they have not obtained their own work permit; in such cases, deportation is also proposed.
