Speaker of the Russian State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin on October 13 announced that 770,000 migrants, who largely hail from Central Asia, must leave Russia.

Under a crackdown on labour migrants and accompanying relatives that has gathered pace in Russia this year – to the point where some commentators have talked of a display of crude xenophobia sometimes involving parties of street vigilantes, denied by the Russian authorities – the period of stay for migrants listed as "controlled persons" expired in September.

"According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as of September 1, 770,000 migrants were on the registry of monitored persons, a third of whom were women and children. A new migration regime—deportation—is now in effect for them," Volodin said.

The applicable expulsion regime means that a person under instruction to leave Russia is prohibited from obtaining a driver's license, driving vehicles, buying or selling cars and real estate, getting married, opening bank accounts, transferring money and managing bank savings.

Russia is currently facing complaints over how many children of Central Asian migrants are being banned from taking places in Russian schools.

Volodin also said that in the first eight months of 2025, approximately 35,000 foreign citizens who violated Russian immigration laws were deported.

The "controlled persons" registry for foreigners was launched in Russia on February 5.

State Duma deputies pushed for its introduction following the Islamist terrorist attack on Crocus City Hall in outer Moscow in March 2024, for which four Tajik migrants, alleged to have been the gunmen who carried out the atrocity that claimed more than 140 lives, are on trial.

This year has also seen Russian authorities begin the gradual introduction of a compulsory app that labour migrants must download to the phone to give authorities constant access to their geolocation data.

The issue of Russia’s treatment of Central Asian migrants was little discussed during open talks Russian leader Vladimir Putin held with the presidents of Central Asia’s five countries during the Central Asia-Russia summit that took place in Tajik capital Dushanbe on October 10. However, from protests lodged over various incidents, it is clear that Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan in particular have in the past year become frustrated at Russia’s treatment of many of their nationals.

At the summit, Putin, did touch on the crackdown when, according to RBK, he said during a press briefing: "Russia is interested in its labour force, but it's important that it meets our needs. Furthermore, it's important that people live in decent conditions and comply with our laws and regulations. I always emphasise that they must be law-abiding."

Referring to migrants not complying with requirements, he added: "There are many of them—and Russian citizens are pointing them out.  We need to think about our compatriots first."

In comments on Tajik labour migrants in Russia, of whom he said there were more than one million, Putin said Russian officials were striving to provide them with decent working conditions, and added: "They are employed in a wide range of industries, particularly in dynamically developing sectors such as construction, housing and utilities, transportation, and logistics, and they make a significant contribution to the growth of the Russian economy."

Given its shrinking population and workforce shortages, there is no doubt Russia needs a sizeable migrant population, a point underlined by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov late last year, when he said: “Migrants are a necessity. The fact is, we are facing a very strained demographic situation. We live in the largest country in the world, but there are very few of us.”