The Russian state, having already invaded Ukraine, appears set on the destruction of its own country. Now, it appears to have found another way to seal Russia's fate. On Jun. 18, the State Duma passed the first reading of the draft law that will spark a migration crisis that will only pour fuel on the fires of corruption. Furthermore, its negative effects could be felt far beyond Russia’s borders.

The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs plans to issue migrants with a document certifying their identity in place of their national passports – which will probably be confiscated. This “universal” document will contain all data on the migrant and their status in Russia, and all other information will be contained in a database with a key on a built-in chip, to which only the police will have access. Thus, the migrant will never know whether he or she is in Russia legally, and the police will have every opportunity to deceive any migrant about their status, without the possibility of being proved wrong.

It is already common for the police to systematically falsify reports on non-existent migration offenses. Already 80% of migrant detentions are illegal. When there is no longer a way to prove their legitimacy, what is to stop that number from rising to 100%?

Police in Russia only have the legal right to detain and check the documents of persons wanted for criminal offenses. However, according to this draft law, the police will be able to detain anyone, seize their documents, and prosecute them for unprovable and non-existent violations. A study showed that people who do not look Slavic are twenty times more likely to be stopped than people who do. This makes it clear that non-white people in Russia – even citizens – would be targeted under this law.

Currently, the average migrant is illegally detained by the police twice a month and ends up paying an average bribe of $150 just to be released. Annually, this amounts to $6.9 billion. I am confident that, if passed, this law would see the number of checks soar as the authorities are given a carte blanche for extortion.

The draft law allows for this document to be seized and migrants to be banned from Russia without so much as a court order. Moreover, migrants would never even be told they had been banned. Their universal identity card would simply be canceled. If a document check found their card was invalid the migrant would be deported without explanation. There is no way for a migrant to check their status to avoid this.

Any police officer will have the right to place migrants in a "controlled stay regime" even if........

© The Moscow Times