Draft Bill Wants Foreigners Deported From Russia for Prostitution and Public Drinking



Vedomosti
Public drunkenness prostitution and other offenses would lead foreigners to deportation from Russia.

An opposition lawmaker has drafted a bill requiring the immediate deportation of foreigners in Russia convicted on a single misdemeanor charge such as public drunkenness, driving without a license, or prostitution, a news report said.

Other offenses that would lead to deportation under the bill proposed by A Just Russia lawmaker Oleg Nilov include petty hooliganism, publicly displaying Nazi symbols, drunk driving, vandalism against memorials, and the illegal felling of trees, Izvestia reported.

In addition to those offenses deemed to be particularly dangerous to the public, a series of smaller administrative violations could also result in deportation for repeat offenders, the report said.

Nilov has also proposed a second bill that would introduce an entry tax for those foreigners who do not need a visa to enter Russia, such as the citizens of most former Soviet republics, the report said.

"The main goal is to protect the interests of our citizens," Nilov was quoted as saying. "By introducing the entry duty we would be able to partially cover expenses for the medical treatment or deportation of foreigners, and for repairing the damage resulting from the crimes they committed in Russia."

But head of the working migrants' trade association Renat Karimov told Izvestia that while his union was willing to support the bill, he was concerned that it could open the way for corrupt police officials to extort bribes from foreign laborers.

"We often receive appeals from nannies who simply crossed the road in the wrong place, have paid a fine, but they are denied a work permit because of that," Karimov was quoted as saying. "Some law enforcement officials seek bribes by groundlessly threatening migrants with a fine, accusing them without trial and without an investigation of forging documents. There is a danger that now they can threaten [immigrants] with deportation."

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