Police authorities in Moscow apprehended more than 380 people in a race riot on Sunday. The riot was prompted by the murder of a local man named Yegor Shcherbakov. Shcherbakov was stabbed while his girlfriend watched. The murder was blamed on a migrant who was said to be from Central Asia or the Caucasus.
Channel News Asia reported that nationalists broke shop windows and attacked security guards. They also shouted slogans like "Russia for Russians!" in the protest joined by over 1,000 people.
Russia has the second largest number of immigrants after the US. According to a report released by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs in September, more than 11 million of the 232 million migrants live in Russia.
In a 2011 BBC report, experts said that labor migrants gave one of the possible solutions to Russia's aging population. According to a Standard & Poor's report, "In our view, Russia's ageing population will likely place substantial pressure on economic growth performance and public finances."
Just last month, the International Monetary Fund reduced its growth forecast for Russia for the third time. The IMF said the economy would grow by 1.5% in 2013 from its two earlier projections of 3.7% and 3.4% growth rates. For 2014, IMF also slashed its outlook forecast for Russia from 3.8% in April to 3%.
Join the Conversation