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PLACE AND ROLE OF ISLAM IN REGIONS OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION, THE CAUCASSUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
VALENTINA SCHENSNOVICH. MIGRATION PROCESSES IN THE NORTH CAUCASUS (Analytical Review) // The review was written for the bulletin "Russia and the Moslem World."
Keywords: migration processes, the North Caucasus, population censuses, population size, ethnic composition, ethno-confessional relations, migration statistics, migration (external and internal), migration reasons, labor-surplus and labor-deficient regions, differentiation of migration flows, adaptation of migrants.
Valentina Schensnovich,
Research Associate, INION RAN
Citation: Schensnovich V. Migration Processes in the North Caucasus (Analytical Review) // Russian and the Moslem World, 2020, No. 1 (307), P. 38-56. DOI: 10.31249/rmw/2020.01.03
Abstract. Researchers critically evaluate the sources of statistical information on migration in the North Caucasus, show which of them should be relied upon in analyzing the situation in the region, and reveal objective difficulties in obtaining reliable information. The main trends in the content of migration flows at the present stage, external and internal migration are differentiated, their significance is determined. Particular attention is paid to the adaptation of migrants in the "receiving territories," as well as to ethno-confessional relations.
Introduction
The authors of the articles turn to the currently vital topic of population migration. In the North Caucasus, migration processes have their own specifics. This region, the researchers emphasize, is one of the most "problematic" parts of Russia in terms of reliability of data on the composition of the population, making it difficult to plan social policy in this region. Inaccurate information on population migration generates incorrect estimates of the population of the regions of the North Caucasus and their individual groups, which can lead to unjustifiably high transfers from the federal budget and inefficient spending on social policy.
Migration statistics in the North Caucasus
The article by N. Mkrtchyan, PhD(Geography) [3] (Institute of Demography, Research Institute "Higher School of Economics," Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences) critically evaluates those sources of statistical information on migration in the North Caucasus, on the basis of which the extent of this phenomenon is estimated. In particular, the data on migration obtained from the censuses of 2002 and 2010 were called into question in a number of republics. The main problems of the migration data used in the analysis of are shown; their incorrectness is confirmed both by comparing census data and administrative sources, and by the conclusions of other researchers. The most reliable data sources indicate a continuing outflow of population from the region. The question of the reliability of the data of municipal statistics is considered separately.
It has been demonstrated that the analysis of data on municipalities in most regions requires recounts, after which an unusual picture emerges: the "backwoods" of the North Caucasus (remote rural areas) are migratory analogous to similar territories in other parts of the country, and cities and their
suburbs have specifics: unlike other regions, statistics do not record their migration growth. The analysis shows that this is most likely due to a large share of unregistered migration to cities. This phenomenon, known in Russia as a whole, in the North Caucasus is intensified due to the peculiarities of the resettlement of migrants in its large cities.
Migration in the regions of the North Caucasus (North Caucasian Federal District) has pronounced special aspects. On the one hand, migration in the Caucasus was measured, especially during the years of ethno-political tensions (Ossetian-Ingush conflict in 1992, both Chechen wars), by tens of thousands. But it is here that living for centuries in villages has generated a special attachment to native places. Both of these circumstances, complicated by the imperfection of migration statistics, complicate the study of migration in the region. N. Mkrtchyan assesses the reliability of available sources and concludes which of them are the best to rely on when exploring migration in the North Caucasus. This issue is relevant for planning social policy both in the North Caucasus Federal District and in those regions of Russia where immigration of the North Caucasus population has been going on in recent decades.
Information on the population of certain regions of Russia is based on census data: the latest All-Union census (1989) and All-Russian census (October 2002 and 2010), as well as current population records. According to the results of the censuses, the data of this accounting are adjusted, migration growth is subject to recount. Since the population of Russia according to the results of the 2002 census exceeded the estimated data by 1,8 million, and according to the 2010 census by almost 1 million people, these adjustments are great. However, the population of certain regions, according to the census, "deviates" from the calculated figures to a greater extent, and the regions of the North Caucasus occupy leading positions in terms of the scale of inconsistencies and necessary adjustments. The results of postSoviet censuses raise doubts among researchers. According to the
author's calculations, during the 2002 census, "doctored records" of the population in Chechnya, Ingushetia, Dagestan and Kabardino-Balkaria could amount to about 1 million people. Similar unreasonable deviations (820 thousand) as of the census dated 2002 are given by an estimation of the dynamics of the number of individual peoples of the North Caucasus. Census data in the regions are also questioned: for example, in Kabardino-Balkaria, inaccuracies in the census prevented the assessment of population dynamics in individual rural settlements and shifts in resettlement. In 2010, the main problems were in Dagestan and Karachayevo-Circassia. Major violations can be detected by comparing the data of current accounting and censuses, the dynamics of the number of representatives of individual peoples.
The reasons that do not allow trusting statistics based on census results in the regions of the North Caucasus are set forth by researchers. These include the objective complexity of organizing and conducting a census in the regions that survived two waves of emergency migration from Chechnya in 1994-1996 and 1999-2000 and the consequences of the Ossetian-Ingush conflict of 1992. The registration of displaced persons in places of temporary residence was carried out poorly, which gave rise to the possibility of double or even triple counting. The process was also influenced by specific problems of population accounting in the district associated with the following circumstances. Firstly, the migration of residents of the republics from the mountains to the plain, including to large cities, created the possibility of double counting of the population: at the place of previous residence in mountain villages, and at the place of new residence, often without registration. Secondly, the departures of residents outside their own republics were not taken into account either by current statistics or by census. Local authorities try not to notice these departures, which fact is reflected in the census results. Despite doubts about the reliability of the census data, Rosstat is forced, on this basis, to adjust the population of many regions
upwards. An official estimate of migration loss cannot be considered reliable. Since 2003, the data on migration at the level of all regions of the North Caucasus are available, but not entirely reliable: according to the 2010 census, the population of the North Caucasus Federal District again exceeded the calculated data. Rosstat recounted the data on the composition of the population in the regions, taking into account the census, writing off their "post-census" increase as unaccounted migration growth.
Comparison of the census results in the regions of the North Caucasus with the current accounting data shows that they have serious differences. The 2010 census suggests that, in a long retrospective, the regions of the North Caucasus were also characterized by an outflow of population. Only the Stavropol Territory had a real stable migration growth, which also does not correspond to the assumption of a large migration growth in the republics allegedly discovered during the census. The reason for doubts about the adequacy of the latest population censuses in the North Caucasus becomes clear when comparing them with the data of current accounting. By regions, the size of these deviations is greatest in Dagestan, where population exceeded the current data by 152 thousand people, Karachayevo-Circassia -by 51 thousand, in the Stavropol Territory - by 79 thousand. It is logical to assume a real unaccounted migration in Stavropol discovered only by the census: the region is attractive to migrants from neighboring regions, primarily from Dagestan and Karachayevo-Circassia, who often live without registration.
Current migration trends
in the North Caucasus Federal District
The article by a professor of Pyatigorsk State University M.A. Astvatsaturova, ScD (Politics) and an associate professor of the same university E.V. Davydova, PhD(Pedagogics) [1] deals with modern migration trends in the North Caucasus Federal District with an emphasis on their determinants and factors in the
ethnopolitical context of the North Caucasus. The main trends in the content of migration flows in the Stavropol Territory at the present stage are identified; their nature is differentiated, as well as the goals of migrants, both from abroad and from neighboring regions - the republics of the North Caucasus. The directions of joint work of the authorities and civil society on optimizing the relations of the communities of the North Caucasian Federal District are proposed taking into account the problems and risks of the migration process.
Migration trends at the present stage reflect many general socio-economic, socio-political, geopolitical processes. A true fact is the differentiation of migration flows by regions of the Russian Federation, since the latter significantly differ in living standards, the development of economic and social infrastructure, as well as population employment and the degree of unemployment. In the Russian Federation there are both labor-surplus and labor-deficient regions, as well as subjects and cities (primarily the capital of the Russian Federation and the main cities of the subjects, resort towns) that attract migrants due to the wide front of implementation of their life strategies. Moscow, the Moscow region, as well as such large cities as St. Petersburg, Voronezh, Ryazan, Saratov, Samara, Rostov-on-Don, Krasnodar, Volgograd, Orenburg, Astrakhan form large-scale migrant clusters around themselves.
In comparison with large cities, the influx of migrants to the peripheral regions is weak: many republics of the Russian Federation, in which, firstly, the level of economic development is low, secondly, the social infrastructure is weak, and thirdly, labor surplus is high (primarily at the account of young people) . This category of the Russian Federation regions includes many regions of the North Caucasus, in this case, the republics located in the North Caucasus Federal District (NCFD).
Studies of migration in the North Caucasus Federal District as a regional migration science have been actively developing since the 90s of the XX century in connection with the collapse of
the USSR and many post-Soviet conflicts, collisions and wars, both within and between the former Soviet republics which have now become sovereign states. At that time, the Stavropol Territory became a territory of intense positive net migration -the territory of the first refuge. This migration was determined by threats, including human security, of thousands of former USSR citizens who left their place of residence to preserve property, and often their own lives. Former citizens of the USSR turned into refugees, internally displaced persons, temporarily displaced persons, often without status, compensation payments, livelihoods and housing.
In the 90s - 2000s, migration became a conflict factor in the ethno-political context of the North Caucasus Federal District, significantly destabilized the situation and updated the quality of migration, national and social policies in the North Caucasus Federal District. Intensive migration replenishment of some ethnic groups and the formation of new ethno-territorial zones exacerbated interethnic relations, damaged national security. Migration exacerbated the topic of interethnic dialogue along such lines as Slavs - Caucasians, Russians - non-Russians, Cossacks - Caucasians, Cossacks - indigenous North-Caucasian peoples, Orthodox - Moslems.
Migration to the North Caucasus at that time as a mass ethnic migration took place, first of all, from such new sovereign states as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, as well as from the self-proclaimed republics - South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Some influx of non-titular ethnic groups, primarily Russians, from Central Asia and Kazakhstan was recorded. First of all, thousands of Armenians, Azerbaijanis, Tsalkin Greeks, Ossetians-Southerners (Kudars), as well as thousands of Russians, arrived in the "Russian subject" of the North Caucasus Federal District, the Stavropol Territory, as well as in North Ossetia-Alania.
At the same period, internal migration between the regions of the North Caucasus became a factor reflecting the emergency situation. Tens of thousands of Russians and other non-titular
groups from the Chechen Republic entered the Stavropol Territory in connection with the armed conflict and ongoing antiterrorist operations in Chechnya. Internal migration was expressed in two interrelated trends: the first was the entry into the Stavropol Territory of a large number of representatives of the titular, indigenous peoples of the Republic of Dagestan, the Chechen Republic, the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, and the Karachay-Cherkessia Republic; the second was the departure of a large number of Russians from the republics of the North Caucasus.
In these processes, conflicts of the local population and migrants during communication, aggravation of intergroup relations, and the interpretation of migration as a destabilizing factor in the ethnopolitical context of the North Caucasus Federal District were noted. During the migration of the 1990s - 2000s, such processes such as intensive replenishment of individual ethnic groups; the formation of ethno-territorial segments and ethno-compact territories; changing the "hierarchy" of ethnic groups and ethnic groups; transformation of the traditional ethnocultural and ethno-confessional balance took place in the North Caucasus. The competition between the old-timers and migrants in the sphere of socio-economic and socio-political relations intensified; contradictions between "ethnic neoplasms," as well as within ethnic communities took place.
The authors of the article note that in addition to contradictions and conflicts, a certain destabilization of the general situation, migration in the Russian Federation to the territory of the North Caucasus has also generated a number of trends that can objectively be characterized as positive. Thus, the North Caucasus has become practically the only territory of the Russian Federation (with the exception of Moscow and the Moscow region) of a significant population growth of almost 1 million people compared with the 1989 All-Union Census. Migration neutralized the natural population decline (as well as loss due to emergency reasons - conflicts, elements of a civil war,
terrorist acts, mass anti-terrorist operations, introduction of the CTO regime). Labor and personnel resources of the economic and socio-cultural complex (agriculture, business, entrepreneurship, services, tourism, the resort, health care, education, culture) were replenished. National-cultural associations, national-cultural autonomies, councils of elders, friendship houses, centers of national cultures, councils of interethnic relations under the heads of the executive branch and local self-government intensified their activity. Also, it was precisely mass migration to the region that served the organization and functioning of effective public associations of migrants and human rights organizations. Migration to the territory of the North Caucasian Federal District from outside (from foreign countries), as well as migration between the constituent entities of the RF NCFD served to enhance public awareness, to structure group interests. The decrease in the degree of "migration stress" in the Russian Federation, in general, and in the North Caucasus Federal District, in particular, occurred due to general stabilization of the geopolitical and internal political situation in the post-Soviet space. The migration flow, as well as of conflictogenic factors exhausted.
In 2010-2018 interstate migration has lost its significance for the North Caucasus Federal District. It reduced qualitatively and quantitatively in connection with the general geopolitical situation, the negative situation in the economy and in the financial sphere, both world and Russian. It has ceased to be a noticeable factor in the ethnopolitical context and has practically no significant consequences either for socio-economic development or for socio-political relations of the region. However, the authors believe, it would be wrong to underestimate the migratory movements of the present, which are nevertheless being carried out both from outside and inside the North Caucasus. Migration movements take place in the specially protected ecological-resort region of the Caucasian Mineral Waters (CMW), which includes the territories of three
constituent entities of the Russian Federation in the North Caucasus Federal District: Stavropol, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachayevo-Circassia. At the same time, migration is carried out, first of all, to the territory of the Stavropol CMW segment to cities - federal resorts: Pyatigorsk, Kislovodsk, Essentuki, Zheleznovodsk. Firstly, a significant migration influx of internal migrants - actually non-migrants - citizens of the Russian Federation. According to their legal status, they are not migrants, but often this is how they are perceived by the local population. This inflow comes from neighboring republics - Karachayevo-Circassia (KCR), Kabardino-Balkaria, (KBR), as well as from Dagestan (RD) and Chechnya (CR), which are geographically remote from the CMW region. This influx occurs primarily in Pyatigorsk, which is not only a large federal resort, but also, since 2010. The administrative center of the North Caucasus Federal District. Secondly, a migratory influx of external migrants - actually migrants - citizens of neighboring countries. These are, first of all, migrants from the states of the South Caucasus, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Migration from the countries of the South Caucasus is proceeding at a slow pace; its peak is a thing of the past. Thirdly, a migratory influx of external migrants -actually migrants - from the sovereign countries of Central Asia. These are labor migrants, employed by urban exploitation campaigns to implement housing and communal services tasks. Fourthly, a migratory influx of migrants - actually migrants -citizens of China and Vietnam. Their inflow to CMW is connected precisely with the purpose of organizing trade, outlets and complexes in the wholesale and retail markets of CMW. Fifthly, a migratory influx of external study migrants - actually migrants -applicants, students, undergraduates - citizens of foreign countries. Students from the CIS countries, as well as from China, India, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Egypt, France, Italy and others study in Pyatigorsk universities. Foreign students, through inclusion in the intercultural community and in the traditions of social and cultural life of the CMW, acquire new competencies of
tolerance, interest in Russian history, culture, as well as interest in the culture of the North Caucasian regional community.
To stabilize the ethnopolitical context of the North Caucasus Federal District, the authors note, it is advisable, in accordance with the recommendations of the Commission on Migration Issues and the socio-cultural adaptation of foreign citizens of the Council on Interethnic Relations under the President of the Russian Federation, to direct joint efforts of the authorities and society on the socio-cultural integration of citizens of the Russian Federation - residents of different regions NCFD - representatives of different ethnic communities.
Features of modern migration processes
in the North Caucasus Federal District
An associate professor of the North Caucasus Federal University I.A. Soloviev, PhD(Geography) [4] shows on the basis of the analysis of scientific literature and official statistics the transformation of modern regional features of migration processes in the North Caucasus. The researcher reveals the share of the North Caucasus in the scale of migration growth in Russia, its regional characteristics, as well as the main reasons for the migration attractiveness of the subjects of the North Caucasus, at the level of urban and rural areas as well. The article identifies, on the basis of systematization of empirical material, the main stages of migration processes in the North Caucasus in 19902010, characterizes the key factors that determine the specific dynamics of migration processes in the North Caucasus, and points out the most common types of population migration. The author classifies regional features of migration performance by type of migration: international, domestic and interregional, and considers the main donor countries in migration terms on the example of the Stavropol Territory.
The migration trends which emerged in recent years of the USSR, caused by stress factors, intensified in the post-Soviet
period. The collapse of the state, accompanied by emergence of ethno-territorial conflicts, the complication of the interethnic situation, as well as the policy of oppression of the Russian-speaking population, contributed to the growth of forced migration in the 1990s throughout the post-Soviet space. In the second half of the 1990s, a gradual decrease in stress migration occurred, and in the new millennium, migration processes began to be determined, as before, by socio-economic factors.
The relevance of the study is associated with the latest transformations of migration processes in the North Caucasus. The author of the article reveals the regional characteristics of population migration in the North Caucasus in the post-Soviet period. The informational basis of the work was represented by scientific literature and official statistics. The main factors influencing modern migration processes in the North Caucasus are geopolitical, transit and border situations, as well as unique ethnic heterogeneity, different types of population reproduction and climatic features.
By the nature of migration processes, the entire post-Soviet period can be divided into 3 stages: the first stage includes the years 1990-1995, when the most massive stress migration was observed; the second stage covers the years 1996-2000, when stress migration was gradually decreasing; the third stage began in the 2000s and continues to the present. The main distinguishing feature of the third stage is the return to the first roles of voluntary migrations, mainly "rural-urban," determined by socio-economic development.
In the first half of the 1990s (stage I), in the North Caucasus there was recorded a sharp increase in migration in the conditions of forced migration. As a result, there was an increase to 26,8% (785,8 thousand people) of the region's share in the structure of the all-Russian migration growth. This phenomenon is explained by the neighboring position of the North Caucasus in relation to many former union republics, as well as the presence of national entities, from which a steady outflow of the Russian
population was identified. For many stress migrants on their way to Russia, the first acceptable regions for permanent residence were the Stavropol and Krasnodar Territories and the Rostov Region. A distinctive feature of the first stage was the high attractiveness for migrants in the conditions of the economic crisis of rural area. The latter accounted for about 2/3 (65,7%) of the total indicator in the total migration growth of the region. The same situation was observed in the second half of the 1990s. The peculiarities of migration growth within the region, led to formation of two zones: the "receiving" and "giving" the population. The first zone with migration growth included the majority of subjects of the North Caucasus (7 out of 10). The migration growth of the "receiving" zone amounted to more than 1 million people. There, subjects with a dominant (more than 80%) Russian population - Krasnodar and Stavropol Territories, Rostov Region, as well as regions with a predominant (64-70%) Russian population - Adygea, were distinguished by increased migration attractiveness for Russian-speaking stress migrants. At the second stage (1996-2000), with a gradual decrease in forced migration, there occurred a significant decline in migration growth (5,5 times; up to 142,7 thousand people). In this connection, the proportion of the region's migration growth in the structure of the all-Russian indicator decreased by 2 times (up to 9%). In the "receiving" zone, the proportion in the migration balance of the Krasnodar Territory, North Ossetia and Adygea increased. At the third stage (2001-2016), the migration trends of the 1990s broke. Forced migration "subsided" and urbanization became the main determinant of migration flows. Urban areas and especially large cities have become points of economic growth in Russia, which led to an increase in migration in the direction "village-city." In the course of this trend, all migration growth in the North Caucasus at this stage began to take shape at the expense of the urban population. The transformation of population migration is associated with a high regional polarization of the socio-economic development of Russia. At the
third stage, a steady migration outflow from most of the republics of the North Caucasus (-312,2 thousand people) remains unchanged. The largest decline in migration is recorded in Dagestan - the region leading in terms of population among the republics (3 million people). An intensive outflow of the population is observed in Karachayevo-Circassia and Kabardino-Balkaria, and it has decreased significantly in the Chechen Republic.
As for the nature of modern population migration in the North Caucasus, by the researcher's mind, three stages are distinguished: 1) "stress (1990-1995), 2) "transitional" (1995-2000), 3) and "urbanization" (2001-2016). In the first half of the 1990s, during the period of mass stress migration, most of the subjects of the North Caucasus had migratory attractiveness, primarily the low-lying regions of the Ciscaucasia: the Rostov Region, the Krasnodar and Stavropol Territories. By the geographical features of the formation of migration growth, all the regions of the North Caucasus are divided into three groups. In the first group, the migration balance is made up mainly due to the inter-regional trend, with a secondary role of international migration (Krasnodar Territory, Adygea). In Ingushetia and the Rostov region, migration growth is accounted for by international migration. In other subjects of the North Caucasus, internal migration is characterized by a steady migration decline, which in its scale superposes the migration growth of international migration.
Population size in the North Caucasus Federal District,
ethno-confessional relations
M. Magomedova (RCEI DSC RAS, Makhachkala) [2] notes that in the region of the North Caucasus there live about 150 ethnic groups, representing almost the entire Russian ethnic area. The North Caucasus Federal District (NCFD) is traditionally quite complicated in terms of migration activity of the population. For Russia, migration is becoming an increasingly
important factor in the demographic, economic and cultural development of the country. In the coming decades, the significance of migration processes on a statewide scale will increase even more. According to the medium version of the forecast of Rosstat, the reduction in the working - age population of the Russian Federation by 2025 will reach about 14 million people. The maximum decline in the working-age population occurred in the period 2011-2017, when the average annual population decline of this age group exceeded 1 million people. In the period between the censuses of 2002 and 2010 the population of Russia decreased by 2,3 million people. According to Rosstat data , the total population of Russia as of January 1, 2018 amounted to 146,880,432 people. The largest population growth as of January 1, 2017 was observed in the Central Federal District - by 105,263 people, the next was the Southern Federal District with an increase of 60,509 people and the North Caucasian Federal District with an increase of 57,769 people.
Against the backdrop of the rapid natural decline in the able-bodied population in Russia, there is an acute problem of more fully utilizing the existing labor potential of the North Caucasian subjects of the country. Since the population in the North Caucasus Federal District in the census period increased by 0,5 million people. As a border territory, the region accepts or passes through its territory immigrants from neighboring states, and within the region itself over the past decade there have been active migratory movements of their own population. Separate subjects of the federation became centers of attraction and concentration of domestic Russian migrants (Krasnodar and Stavropol Territories, Rostov Region), and other territories became the main sources of "discharge" of migrants (Republic of Dagestan, North Ossetia-Alania, Chechen Republic). A significant part of migrants, including refugees, internally displaced persons, in particular from Azerbaijan (Armenians, Kurds), Uzbekistan (Meskhetian Turks) and Chechnya (Russians, Chechens, etc.) left for the "Russian" subjects of the North
Caucasus and continues to leave. If the migration outflow of the population from the republics of the North Caucasus caused the process of "sovereignization," aggravation of interethnic relations, then a significant migration influx of the population into the "Russian" regions of the region resulted in a significant increase in interethnic tension in these subjects. Interethnic relations in the Krasnodar and Stavropol Territories and the Rostov Region today are characterized by pronounced xenophobia not only of the indigenous population, but also of the authorities of these entities in relation to migrants, especially to internally displaced persons and refugees from among the so-called "people of Caucasian nationality." Anti-Armenian and anti-Chechen sentiments and hostility towards the Meskhetian Turks are very strong in these subjects of the region.
According to the results of 2017, the total population growth in Russia amounted to over 250 thousand people only due to migration growth. The North Caucasus republics traditionally show a stably high percentage of natural growth. Among the titular ethnic groups of the republics of the North Caucasus, a significant population growth is observed in the Republic of Dagestan: Kumyks (19%), Dargins and Lezgins (15%), Nogais and Laks (14%)
As for the migration outflow of Russians and the population of other non-titular nationalities from the republics of the North Caucasus, along with economic reasons, they also had ethnic reasons. The republican and central authorities tried to ignore the ethnic causes of their migration outflow from the republics of the North Caucasus, explaining the increasing migration only by economic reasons. These reasons, the researcher notes, are certainly present in the migration attitudes, but they are not critical in deciding whether to move to other "Russian" subjects of the Russian Federation. The bulk of the population leaving the North Caucasian republics travel mainly to the Stavropol and Krasnodar Territories and the Rostov Region. The next most attractive region for people leaving the
republics of the North Caucasus (regardless of ethnicity) is the Central region of the Russian Federation, in particular, Moscow and the Moscow region. The migration outflow of the population of the republics of the region as a whole to these constituent entities of the Russian Federation is about 25% of the total migration outflow of the population from these republics.
The main goal of migration policy in the North Caucasus is related to ensuring the manageability and predictability of migration processes in the region with a special geopolitical status - the southern border of the country with access to the Transcaucasia, the Black Sea basin and the Middle East. The concept regarding internal migration, according to the author, should be based on creating conditions for stopping the outflow and influx of the Russian population into the republics, reorienting migration flows to the needs of the socio-economic development of the regions.
The Russian population of the republics of the North Caucasus is settled mainly in cities, primarily in capitals. The proportion of city dwellers in the Russian population of these republics in the 90s ranged from 58 to 85%. At present, this indicator is slightly lower, since the migration outflow of Russian citizens from the republics of the region is higher than that of residents of rural settlements. The bulk of the Russian rural population of the North Caucasian republics lives in the "Russian" regions. These regions, or a significant part of the settlements, were, as a result of repeated territorial redraws, transformed into "Russian" ones. These are the Kizlyar and Tarumovsky districts in the Republic of Dagestan, Sunzhensky, Shelkovsky and Naursky in Chechen-Ingushetia.
The intensive migration outflow of the Russian-speaking population from the republics of the North Caucasus negatively affects entire sectors of the economy and slows down their socioeconomic development. Such an "ethnic" component of migration flows enhances the ethnic isolation of the regions, which may lead to adverse geopolitical and ethnopolitical consequences for the
country. In these regions, it is necessary to eliminate or at least minimize the conditions for the emergence of forced migration by stabilizing the ethno-political situation, resolving crisis situations, and preventing inter-ethnic conflicts.
Conclusion
At the present stage, a small number of external migrants does not significantly affect the content of the ethno-political context of the North Caucasus Federal District.
This context is significantly influenced by internal migration, which has a unidirectional character, i.e. the movement in the Stavropol Territory of Russian citizens from the republics of the Russian Federation of the North Caucasian Federal District: the Chechen Republic, the Republic of Dagestan, the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, the Karachayevo-Circassia Republic, etc. For the republics of the Russian Federation themselves - the Chechen Republic, the Republic of Ingushetia, the Republic of Dagestan, the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, Karachayevo-Circassia Republic - the problem of migration as a problem of the arrival of foreign and Russian citizens is practically not relevant. This is understandable in connection with the labor redundancy of these entities.
However, in some cases, the problem of migration and socio-cultural adaptation and economic rehabilitation of foreign citizens is relevant for the republics, namely: for Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachayevo-Circassia - the repatriation of compatriots and ethnic relatives from Turkey, Syria, the USA, some European countries, etc.; for North Ossetia-Alania - migration of South Ossetians from the self-proclaimed Republic of South Ossetia. Inter-regional movements of representatives of the titular peoples of the North Caucasus (from the republics towards the Stavropol Territory) aggravate competition and contradictions in the sphere of property, employment, politics and management, as well as in the socio-cultural sphere. It is obvious that it is internal migration
in the ethnopolitical context of the North Caucasus Federal District that actualizes the implementation of the state national policy and state migration policy in neutralization and prevention of:
- Conflict situations, mutual negative ethnic stereotypes, extremist sentiments based on nationalism and xenophobia, especially among young people;
- Repolitization ("new politization") of the activities of individual national-cultural organizations, ethnic congresses and forums;
- Geopolitization of interethnic relations due to events in Ukraine, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, etc.;
- Dissemination of Sharia norms in the communities of the North-Caucasian Federal District as substitution of secular law and the legislation of the Russian Federation;
- Ethnicization and confessionalization of the doctrines and practices of policy and governance as opposed to the secular nature of the organization of power.
References
1 Astvatsaturova M.A., Davydova E.V. Modern migration processes in the ethno-political context of the North Caucasus Federal District // Migration and interethnic relations in modern Russia. Collection of materials of the International scientific and practical conference: Migration and interethnic relations in modern Russia. September 27, 2018, M., Litera, 2018. P. 16-31.
2. Magomedova M.Z. Regional features of the migration situation in the North Caucasus // Eurasian Scientific Association, Moscow, 2018, No. 10-3 (44). P. 164-166.
3. Z. Mkrtchyan N. Migration in the North Caucasus through the prism of imperfect statistics / / Journal of Social Policy Studies. T. 17. No. 1. M., Higher School of Economics, 2018. P. 8-12.
4 Soloviev I.A. Regional features of migration processes in the North Caucasus // Geographical Bulletin. Perm, 2018. No. 1 (44). P. 49-55.
