Russia is forming a new power and corruption vertical under the guise of migration control - intelligence
Kyiv • UNN
The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs plans to grant the citizenship service the right to operational-search measures, including the collection of biometric samples, against the backdrop of growing labor migration. This is happening while the personnel deficit in the Ministry of Internal Affairs has doubled since 2022 and interest in Russian citizenship has decreased.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation is preparing to expand the powers of the newly created service for citizenship and registration of foreign citizens, granting it the right to conduct operational-search measures - from external surveillance to collecting biometric samples, UNN reports with reference to the Foreign Intelligence Service.
According to intelligence, the initiative is formally explained by the need to strengthen the fight against migration crimes and build an autonomous administrative vertical within the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In fact, it is about the redistribution of influence: functions that were previously under the jurisdiction of criminal investigation and other law enforcement units are concentrated in one department, which creates a risk of excessive centralization of operational tools.
The context for this step is the growth of labor migration. The number of foreigners working in Russia under patents increased by 32% to 1.9 million people, and the number of work permits issued increased by 52% year-on-year, i.e., to 103 thousand. At the same time, these figures contrast with a decline in interest in Russian citizenship: from January to September 2025, 110.8 thousand people received Russian passports, which is 30.1% less than last year. The war against Ukraine and stricter requirements for new citizens are increasingly deterring foreigners
The intelligence added that the expansion of the service's powers is taking place against the backdrop of a systemic crisis within the Ministry of Internal Affairs itself. The personnel shortage has almost doubled since 2022 and exceeded 172 thousand vacancies, especially acutely among district police officers and operational units. Under these conditions, the transfer of new law enforcement functions to a civilian-administrative body looks like an attempt to compensate for institutional weakness, rather than to increase the effectiveness of control.
Additional risks are created by reputational scandals. According to media reports, the service is headed by the First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, Andriy Kikot, who is associated with corruption schemes involving the use of migrant labor in the construction sector. The expansion of operational powers in such a configuration looks not like an instrument of control, but a redistribution of spheres of influence within the Ministry of Internal Affairs with the formation of a separate power and corruption vertical that legalizes additional administrative pressure on migrants in a system that already demonstrates chronic inefficiency
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