Press Release, 9.06.2025

Photo by Irina Buzhor, Kommersant

Only 4% of children of immigrants to Russia have been admitted to comprehensive schools after passing the entrance filter introduced for them – a mandatory exam in the Russian language. State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin wrote about this figure with some pride on his Telegram channel. According to Vyacheslav Volodin, as of 22 May, 2,868 applications for migrant children to participate in the Russian language testing were submitted, and 498 children (17%) were admitted to the exam. “In the two months of functioning of the new rules, they have proven their effectiveness,” Volodin writes. Deputy Chairman of the Yabloko party Maxim Kruglov writes about what the two months of discriminatory rules actually show, and where this laws and further draft laws “on control over migrants” may lead to.

“The news that the fact that just 4% of foreign children were accepted to school this year only means that 96% will be left without an education, the opportunity to socialise and study the Russian language. They will remain in Russia, but will grow up outside of school, and outside the socio-cultural space of the country.

I do not think it is necessary to explain in detail what this means. Populist deputies, riding the wave of anti-migrant sentiment, passed a law that lays a mine of extremism: after all, this is the direction the country is forcing migrant children to go – not school, but the street; not socialisation and integration, but ethnic gangs and crime.

Populist deputies, like classic temporary workers, do not think about the future, about the fact that with their actions they have only multiplied the problems several times.

Yabloko has already spoken out categorically against this law, we showed with figures in hand where the ban on accepting migrant children into schools will lead to.

Unfortunately, practice has shown that we were right. What Speaker Volodin is happy about now will turn into huge problems for the country in the near future. Before it is too late, we call for this foolish, dangerous and populist measure to be cancelled.”