Law enforcers’ report shows low efficiency of raid over Roma community in Volgograd Region

Law enforcers' raids aimed to identify illegal migration in the Ilovlinsky District were inefficient and offensive; only five people out of hundreds of checked members of the Roma community received summonses to the military commissariat (registration and enlistment office). The raids became a way to replenish the ranks of special military operation (SMO) fighters at the expense of naturalized migrants.

On June 4, publications appeared in Volgograd media about large-scale raids conducted n the Ilovlinsky District of the Volgograd Region. Agents of the FSB (Russian Federal Security Service) and policemen, acting with the force support of the OMON (riot police), conducted actions aimed to check the compliance with the Russian legislation at farms in the villages of Krasnodonsky, Kuznetsov, Baibaev, Avilov, Krasnoyarsky and Medvedev. Law enforcers checked residences of foreign citizens. The raids also affected members of local Roma communities. A total of 370 people were checked, 110 of whom were citizens of foreign countries. The raids resulted in three administrative cases initiated for violating immigration laws, one for failure to fulfil parental duties; and five members of the Roma community were served with summonses to the military commissariat.

Evgeny Frolov, a resident of the Ilovlinsky District, believes that there is currently no tension in local residents’ relations with the Roma community. "After the instigators of the interethnic quarrel were arrested last October, passions subsided," he has explained.

We never had any conflicts with those who have lived here for several decades.

A resident of Ilovlya, Svetlana by name, has also confirmed the absence of any interethnic conflicts in the district centre. According to her story, "many have already forgotten about last year's incidents."

"I heard that some of the recently arrived Roma have left Ilovlya. And we have never had any conflicts with those who have lived here for several decades. Yes, their young people behave provocatively. But this is a matter of upbringing. They are too noisy," the woman has noted.

"Our authorities and the police have become more attentive to such conflicts. It is clear that they will not be patted on the head if what happened here last year is repeated," Andrei, Svetlana’s husband, has added.

They believe, however, that such "preventive raids" are useful. "They (labour migrants and Roma, – note of the "Caucasian Knot") will not lose anything if they are thoroughly checked once again. There is no point in hiding it: crime is not uncommon among them," said Evgeny Frolov.

The initiators of the latest anti-migrant raids and inspections of migrant workers and Roma communities in Russia were units of the local FSB Branch, while the migration control – according to Russian laws – is under the jurisdiction of the migration services and the police, "and there are no legal reasons at all to check ethnic communities, since Russian citizens live there," Stefaniya Kulaeva, head of the “Memorial” Anti-Discrimination Centre, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"It is unclear on what grounds, under what criminal cases, these raids were conducted by FSB and OMON agents. What and who were they looking for?" Ms Kulaeva has asked.

She has noted the insignificance of the violations of immigration rules found in the Ilovlinsky District during such a large-scale raid. "Two thirds of those checked are not foreigners. Who was checked and why? Why were Roma communities checked? Why were they looking for foreigners? What was the purpose of this large-scale raid? Since when did the FSB obtain the jurisdiction over issues such as parental rights, driving cars and conscription (into the army)? There’s no overall picture of what is happening. Apparently, ‘suspicion’ was defined by visual signs, and this is a manifestation of blatant cynical racism," Ms Kulaeva has concluded.

An expert from one of the international organizations, on condition of anonymity, told the correspondent about the "urgency of the problem of raids on Roma communities" in Russia.

"We receive such information every day and from everywhere. Right now we are studying the situation in one of the communities in the Tula Region ... We are communicating with governors and officials about these raids. We are trying to somehow mitigate the problem," she said.

Vyacheslav Lemkus, a journalist, has pointed out that local media outlets themselves, by publishing law enforcers' press releases about such raids, are provoking intolerance.

"We read news about this raid. The texts are full of bureaucratic jargon, which law enforcers usually use in their press releases and protocols. The articles are full of value judgments: a gypsy ghetto, a breeding ground for illegals. What is this? Earlier respected outlets are turning into yellow press. They publish the raid outcomes – they’re meagre. That is, there is no ghetto, no illegals. It's a disgrace," Mr Lemkus was indignant.

He said that he had been writing about Roma communities and migrant workers for many years and expressed surprise at the summonses to the military commissariat issued to men from the Ilovlya Roma community.

"As a rule, Roma guys already have at least three children when they reach the conscription age. According to the law, they cannot be called up as fathers of many children," Vyacheslav Lemkus has noted.

As the results of the raid have shown," but is also harmful to the economy, in particular to agriculture

In his opinion, the law enforcers’ pressure on migrant workers is not only inefficient, "as the results of the raid have shown," but is also harmful to the economy, in particular to agriculture. In the conditions of the summer "merciless heat," "local farmers have no zeal for such hard labour. Therefore, more than three hundred farms here are experiencing a constant cadre shortage. Their bosses are queuing up for migrant workers. And so ... We have such strange raids that hit the local economy. This is also a humiliation of the human dignity of labour migrants, a manifestation of xenophobia," Vyacheslav Lemkus has stated.

"The fact that in early June a mass check of migrants was conducted throughout the country evokes only pity and sympathy," Mikhail Doliev, a political analyst, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. In his opinion, this is how the process is underway of recruiting labour migrants from Central Asia to participate in the SMO on the side of Russia.

"These ‘checks’, which are actually recruitments for the army, are regularly conducted in Russia; later, identical releases are sent to propaganda outlets. As a rule, chauvinistic attacks dominate the comments to such messages," Mr Doliev has stated, suggesting that oppression of naturalized migrants on ethnic grounds is not excluded in the war zone.

This was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 7, 2025 at 12:05 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.