everyday nationalism: perceptions of migrants
what happens in case this number falls swiftly. Under the economic
crisis in Russia of 2014–15, migrants from the ‘near abroad’, facing
‘inflation’ of their currency remittances, have started to leave for
their home countries. However, it is still unclear whether this trend
will produce a serious and lasting (non- seasonal) reduction in the
numbers of labour migrants in Russia, or what regions may be most
affected. It is also difficult to produce estimates of possible correla-
tion between this trend and the level of migrantophobia in different
parts of the country.
- The inconsistencies in respondents’ positions are notable also in
the fact that, for example, together with support for the idea of
‘the necessity of migrants’, almost the same percentage (53.3 per
cent) fully or somewhat agreed that ‘migrants – legal and illegal,
and their children – should be sent back to their former homes’
(42.5 per cent did not support this idea, fully or somewhat). The
pragmatism of respondents, who understand that the demographic
situation in Russia demands an influx of supplementary workforce,
is thus coupled with an emotionally coloured and unmotivated (in
the question, no explanation is offered) desire ‘not to let them in’.
We return to this peculiarity in respondents’ views in the concluding
part of the chapter.
- Waldinger writes only of ‘majority/minority’, without giving con-
crete figures.
- Flats whose owners illegally register and/or accommodate dozens of
migrants.
- The reluctance of respondents to live in close proximity to multiple-
family neighbours who are potentially noisy is also aligned with this
aspect (see section on contact between migrants and Muscovites
above).
