Russia has revealed they currently needs migrants in order to develop because of its dwindling domestic workforce.
This was made known by spokesman Dmitry Peskov in an interview published on Friday.
“Migrants are a necessity,” he told state news agency RIA Novosti.
“We have a tense demographic situation. We live in the largest country in the world but there aren’t that many of us,” he said.
Earlier this week, Russia’s parliament approved legislation banning “child-free propaganda”, effectively outlawing any person or organisation from encouraging others not to have children.
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It was a move designed to help remedy a demographic crisis inherited from the Soviet era and which has worsened since the conflict in Ukraine.
“We need a labour force in order to have dynamic development and carry out all our development projects,” Peskov said.
He said Russian authorities welcomed migration.
Anti-migrant rhetoric is common in Russia, especially towards labourers from ex-Soviet republics in Central Asia who fill key sectors of the economy.
In July, the Kremlin acknowledged the low population was “disastrous for the future of the nation”.
