Migration situation in Russia, its evolution and long-term trends

The article is devoted to the specifics of migration flows in contemporary Russia and mechanisms of their regulation at national level. The authors single out the main stages of the evolution of Russia’s migration policy in the post-Soviet period, elucidate the peculiarities of its legal basis and particular administrative mechanisms of its implementation and analyze the current situation clarifying the reasons for its development as well as socio-economic consequences and implications for the country. Furthermore, the authors distinguish and characterize different forms of mobility, on the base of which they single out distinct groups of migrants. The authors examine typical attitudes to migrants in modern Russian society and reveal that ethnocentrism is still dominant in contemporary Russia. In addition, the authors propose several ways of alleviating the current situation and solving the existing problems. Finally, the authors conclude that Russia, being one of the major migration corridors in the modern world, nowadays is facing a wide range of challenges, which are quite similar to those problems contemporary Europe has to deal with.