Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-wzw2p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-31T08:49:34.722Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Remigration of Afghan Immigrants from Russia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 March 2020

Minna Piipponen Open the ORCID record for Minna Piipponen [Opens in a new window]  and
Joni Virkkunen
Minna Piipponen*
Affiliation:
Karelian Institute, University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland
Joni Virkkunen
Affiliation:
Karelian Institute, University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland
*
*Corresponding author. Email: minna.piipponen@uef.fi
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Russia is one of the world’s largest migrant-receiving countries. The recession of recent years, changes in labor market and immigration policies, and an increase in anti-foreign sentiment have directly affected immigrants’ lives in Russia. This has been reflected not only in how immigrants find employment and housing in the country but also in how they perceive Russia as a country in which to work and live. This article analyzes remigration as a coping strategy of Afghan immigrants in Russia. These immigrants face severe everyday difficulties as irregular migrants and suffer discrimination and uncertainty. Despite their low status and vulnerability, we argue that Afghan immigrants still have agency, evident in how they interpret and live in the Russian anti-immigrant atmosphere. The article is based on stories narrated by Afghan immigrants in Russia and a qualitative content analysis of the asylum application protocols of Afghan asylum seekers in Finland that was produced by the Finnish Border Guard, Police, and the Finnish Immigration Service. A total of 632 Afghan citizens applied for asylum after entering Finland from the Russian Federation along the “Arctic route” between 2015 and 2016.

Keywords

Afghan immigrantsagencyremigrationvulnerabilityRussia
Type
Special Issue Article
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 48 , Special Issue 4: Special Issue on Migrant Rights, Agency, and Vulnerability , July 2020 , pp. 644 - 660
Copyright
© Association for the Study of Nationalities 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, Bridget. 2008. “Illegal Immigrant”: Victim or Villain? ESRC Centre on Migration, Policy and Society. Working Paper No. 64, University of Oxford, UK.Google Scholar
Boltovskaya, Svetlana. 2010. “African Communities in Moscow and St. Petersburg – Issue of Inclusion and Exclusion.” In Cultural Diversity in Russian Cities: The Urban Landscape in the Post-Soviet Era, edited by Gdaniec, Cordula, 94–114. New York: Berghahn Books.Google Scholar
Bondarenko, Dmitri. 2017. “African Migrants in the Soviet-era Moscow: Adaptation and Integration of Socio-Political Transformations.” Journal of African Migration 9: 34–71.Google Scholar
Bondarenko, Dmitri M., Googueva, Elena A., Serov, Sergey N., and Shakhbazyan, Ekaterina V.. 2009. “Post-socialism Meets Postcolonialism: African Migrants in the Russian Capital.” Anthropological Journal of European Cultures 18 (2): 87–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Braghiroli, Stefano, and Makarychev, Andrey. 2018. “Redefining Europe: Russia and the 2015 Refugee Crisis.” Geopolitics 23 (4): 823–848.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burtina, Elena, Korosteleva, Ekaterina, and Simonov, Vladislav. 2015. Rossiia kak strana ubezhishcha: Doklad ob ispolnenii Rossiiskoi Federatsiei konventsii o statuse bezhentsev 1951 goda [Russia as an Asylum Country: Report on the Performance of the Russian Federation with regard to the 1951 Refugee Convention]. Moscow: Komitet grazhdanskoe sodeistvie.Google Scholar
Collyer, Michael, Düvell, Franck, and de Haas, Hein. 2012. “Critical Approaches to Transit Migration.” Population, Space & Place 18 (4): 407–414.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collyer, Michael and de Haas, Hein. 2012. “Developing Dynamic Categorisations of Transit Migration.” Population, Space & Place 18 (4): 468–481.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collyer, Michael. 2007. “In-Between Places: Trans-Saharan Transit Migrants in Morocco and the Fragmented Journey to Europe.” Antipode 39 (4): 669–690.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crawley, Heaven, Düvell, Franck, Jones, Katharine, McMahon, Simon, and Sigona, Nando. 2018. Unravelling Europe’s ‘Migration Crisis’: Journeys over Land and Sea. Bristol: Policy Press.Google Scholar
Dixon, Megan. 2010. “Is Chinese Space ‘Chinese’? New Migrants in St. Petersburg.” In Cultural Diversity in Russian Cities: The Urban Landscape in the Post-Soviet Era, edited by Gdaniec, Cordula, 21–49. New York: Berghahn Books.Google Scholar
Düvell, Franck. 2012. “Transit Migration: A Blurred and Politicised Concept.” Population, Space and Place 18: 415–427.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guard, Finnish Border. Rajavartiolaitoksen tiedotteet [News of the Border Guard]. http://www.raja.fi/tietoa/tiedotteet. (Accessed September 28, 2016.)Google Scholar
Finnish Immigration Service. 2017. ”Maahanmuuttoviraston vuoden 2016 tilastot: päätöksiä tehtiin ennätysmäärä” [Statistics of the Finnish Immigration Service 2016: Record number of decisions]. Migri, January 11. https://migri.fi/artikkeli/-/asset_publisher/maahanmuuttoviraston-vuoden-2016-tilastot-paatoksia-tehtiin-ennatysmaara. (Accessed September 28, 2016.)Google Scholar
Greussing, Esther and Boomgaarden, Hajo G.. 2017. “Shifting the Refugee Narrative? An Automated Frame Analysis of Europe’s 2015 Refugee Crisis.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 43 (11): 1749–1774.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horie, Norio and Grigorichev, Konstantin. 2015. “The Evolution of Chinese Markets in Siberia: Rebuilding Chineseness and Opening Closed Locality.” In Ethnic Markets in Russia: Bargaining Space and Meeting Place, edited by Dyatlov, Viktor I. and Grigorichev, Konstantin V., 141–158. Irkutsk: Publishing House of the Irkutsk State University.Google Scholar
Huhta, Kari. 2016a. “Presidentti Niinistö Medvedeville: Turvapaikanhakijoiden siirtymiselle Venäjältä Suomeen ei perusteita” [President Niinistö to Medved: There Are no Grounds for Asylum Seekers’ Movement from Russia to Finland]. Helsingin Sanomat, February 12. https://www.hs.fi/ulkomaat/art-2000002885875.html. (Accessed December 12, 2019.)Google Scholar
Huhta, Kari. 2016b. “Orpo neuvotteli pakolaiskiistasta Venäjällä FSB:n johdon kanssa” [Orpo Has Negotiated the Refugee Dispute with the Management of the FSB]. Helsingin Sanomat, February 15. https://www.hs.fi/kotimaa/art-2000002886148.html. (Accessed December 12, 2019.)Google Scholar
Iivari, Pekka. 2018. ““We Can’t Stop Them” (My ikh ne mozhem ostanovit’): Russian Media Representations of the Flow of Asylum Seekers at the Finnish-Russian Border in 2015–2016.” Barents Studies 5 (1): 83–105.Google Scholar
Ivakhnyuk, Irina. 2009. “Russian Migration Policy and Its Impact on Human Development.” Human Development Reports Research Paper 2009/14. https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/19196/1/MPRA_paper_19196.pdf. (Accessed December 12, 2019.)Google Scholar
Ivanova, Tatyana. 2004. “Est’ li budushchee v Rossii y afganskikh bezhentsev?” [Is There a Future in Russia for Afghan Refugees?] Otechestvennye zapiski 20 (5). http://www.strana-oz.ru/2004/5/est-li-budushchee-v-rossii-u-afganskih-bezhencev. (Accessed December 12, 2019.)Google Scholar
Koivuranta, Esa. 2016. “Mitä maahanmuutosta puhuttiin? Orpo kertoo venäläiskollegan tapaamisesta – seuraa suorana” [What Was Said about Immigration? Orpo Tells of His Meeting with His Russian Colleague – Live]. Yle, January 27. https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-8624997. (Accessed December 12, 2019.)Google Scholar
Krzyżanowski, Michał, Triandafyllidou, Anna, and Wodak, Ruth. 2018. “The Mediatization and the Politicization of the “Refugee Crisis” in Europe.” Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies 16 (1/2): 1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kubal, Agnieszka. 2016. “Refugees or Migrant Workers? A Case Study of Undocumented Syrians in Russia.” Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Law 30 (3): 265–282.Google Scholar
Kuznetsova, Irina and Round, John. 2018. “Postcolonial Migrations in Russia: The Racism, Informality and Discrimination Nexus.” International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy 39 (1/2): 52–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lindroos, Reijo and Hamunen, Ulla-Maija. 2016. ”Presidentti Niinistö Putinin vieraaksi Moskovaan pääsiäisen tienoilla” [President Niinistö Will Visit Putin in Moscow at Easter]. Yle, February 12. https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-8670856. (Accessed December 12, 2019.)Google Scholar
Litvinova, Daria. 2016. “Russia’s Refugees: They Picked the Wrong Country.” The Moscow Times, October 14. https://themoscowtimes.com/articles/they-picked-the-wrong-country-55702. (Accessed December 12, 2019.)Google Scholar
Mainwaring, Cetta. 2016. “Migrant Agency: Negotiating Borders and Migration Controls.” Migration Studies 4 (3): 289–308.Google Scholar
Malinkin, Mary Elizabeth. 2015. “A Long Road to Asylum: Syrian Refugees in Russia.” Kennan Cable No. 12, November. https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/kennan_cable_no.12_a_long_road_to_asylum-syrian_refugees_in_russia.pdf. (Accessed December 12, 2019.)Google Scholar
Matusevich, Maxim. 2008. “Journeys of Hope: African Diaspora and the Soviet Society.” Journal of African Diaspora 1 (1/2): 53–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mikhailova, Ekaterina. 2018. “Are Refugees Welcome to the Arctic? Perceptions of Arctic Migrants at the Russian-Norwegian Borderland.” In How to Deal with Refugees?, edited by Besier, Gerhard and Stokłosa, Katarzyna, 183–200. Zürich: Lit Verlag.Google Scholar
Moe, Arild and Rowe, Lars. 2016. “Asylstrømmen fra Russland til Norge i 2015: Bevisst russisk politik?” [The Asylum Flow from Russia to Norway in 2015: A Conscious Russian policy]. Nordisk Østforum 30 (2): 80–97.Google Scholar
Mountz, Alison. 2010. Seeking Asylum: Human Smuggling and Bureaucracy at the Border. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Muller, Nicholas. 2018. “Russia: New Migrant Registration Rules Threaten Tenuous Livelihoods.” Eurasianet, July 17. https://eurasianet.org/russia-new-migrant-registration-rules-threaten-tenuous-livelihoods. (Accessed December 12, 2019.)Google Scholar
Nikiforova, Elena and Brednikova, Olga. 2018. “On Labor Migration to Russia: Central Asian Migrants and Migrant Families in the Matrix of Russia’s Bordering Policies.” Political Geography 66: 142–150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nozhenko, Maria. 2010. “Russian Federation.” Focus Migration. http://focus-migration.hwwi.de/Russian-Federation.6337.0.html?&L=1. (Accessed December 12, 2019.)Google Scholar
Patterson, Molly, and Monroe, Kristen Renwick. 1998. “Narrative in Political Science.” Annual Review of Political Science 1: 315–331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Piipponen, Minna, and Virkkunen, Joni. 2017. “Asylum Seekers and Security at the Northern Finnish-Russian Border: Analysing ‘Arctic Route Episode’ of 2015-2016.” RUDN Journal of Economics 25 (4): 518–533.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pismennaya, Elena, Karabulatova, Irina S., Ryazantsev, Sergey, Luk’yanets, Artem, and Manshin, Roman V.. 2015. “Impact of Climate Change on Migration from Vietnam to Russia as a Factor of Transformation of Geopolitical Relations.” Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences 3: 202–207.Google Scholar
Putin, Vladimir. 2016. “Zasedanie kollegii Federal’noi sluzhby bezopasnosti” [Meeting of the Board of the Federal Security Service]. President’s speech. February 26. http://kremlin.ru/events/president/news/51397. (Accessed December 12, 2019.)Google Scholar
Reeves, Madeleine. 2013. “Clean Fake: Authenticating Documents and Persons in Migrant Moscow.” American Anthropologist. 40 (3): 508–524.Google Scholar
Rosstat, . 2019. “Chislennost’ vynuzhdennykh pereselentsev, bezhentsev i lits, polucivshikh vremennoe ubezhishche” [The number of internally displaced persons, refugees, and individuals granted asylum]. Rosstat. https://www.gks.ru/free_doc/new_site/population/demo/tab-migr4.htm. (Accessed December 12, 2019.)Google Scholar
Russian Federation. 2001. Government Resolution No. 274. “On Granting Temporary Asylum in the Territory of the Russian Federation.” April 9. http://www.refworld.org/type,DECREEES,,RUS,3ed7378b4,0.html. (Accessed December 12, 2019.)Google Scholar
Russian Federation. 1993. “Federal Law on Refugees.” No. 4528-I. February 19. http://www.refworld.org/docid/527246344.html. (Accessed December 12, 2019.)Google Scholar
Ryumin, Alexander. 2018. “One Man’s Fight Against Slavs-Only Apartment Rentals in Moscow.” The Moscow Times, February 27. https://themoscowtimes.com/articles/one-man-pushes-back-against-slavs-only-renting-discrimination-60632. (Accessed December 12, 2019.)Google Scholar
Ryazantsev, Sergey V. 2014. “Chinese Migration and Chinese Diaspora in Russia.” MPC Research Report, 2014/01. Florence: European University Institute.Google Scholar
Ryazantsev, Sergey V. 2016. “Labour Migration from Central Asia to Russia in the Context of the Economic Crisis.” Valdai Papers, no. 55. http://valdaiclub.com/files/11628/. (Accessed December 12, 2019.)Google Scholar
Ryazantsev, Sergey, Man’shin, Roman, and Nguen, Canh Toan. 2013. “Sravnitel’nyi analiz v’etnamskoi i kitaiskoi migratsii v Rossiiu” [A Comparative Analysis of Vietnamese and Chinese Migration in Russia]. Migratsionnoe pravo 1: 5–10.Google Scholar
Ryazantsev, Sergey V. and Hunmei, J.. 2010. Chinese Migration in Russia: Trends, Consequences and Approaches to Regulation. Мoscow: Ekonomicheskoe obrazovanie.Google Scholar
Skön, Patrik. 2017. “Spotlight: Kun itäraja vuoti” [When the Eastern Boundary Leaked]. Yle Fem, March 27. http://areena.yle.fi/1-3797243#autoplay=true. (Accessed December 12, 2019.)Google Scholar
Tanttu, Tarja. 2017. ““Sitten uskaltaa kertoo omista asioista enemmän” – Maahanmuuttaja-asiakkaiden työvoimaneuvojan käsityksiä luottamuksen rakentamisesta asiointikeskustelussa” [“That’s When You Dare to Say More about Your Own Affairs”: Concepts of the Immigrant Clients’ Labour Advisor at the Building Confidence in Business Discussion]. Prologi ̶ Puheviestinnän vuosikirja: 24–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turaeva, Rano. 2018. “Imagined Mosque Communities in Russia: Central Asian Migrants in Moscow.” Asian Ethnicity 20 (2): 131–147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Virkkunen, Joni. 2018. “Borders, Polarisations, and Activisms: Uncovering the Migration-Security Nexus in Finland during the 2015-2016”. In How to Deal with Refugees?, edited by Besier, Gerhard and Stokłosa, Katarzyna, 225–244. Zürich: Lit Verlag.Google Scholar