The Impact of Economic Sanctions (on Russia) on Labor Migrants from Kyrgyzstan and on their Remittances

Abstract

Three-thirds of labor migrants in Russia are from Central Asia. Russia, in turn, is an indispensable source of earnings for them: every sixth citizen of Kyrgyzstan works in Russia, and 85-95%% of all remittances go from Russia. Within the last decade, Kyrgyzstan has consistently occupied one of the top three places in the world in terms of the share of remittances in GDP: almost one-third of its GDP is remittances which means that Kyrgyzstan is a highly dependent country on them. That is why the Special Military Operation (SMO) of Russia and bunches of heaviest sanctions on Russia caused serious concern about labor migrants and remittances perspectives. Issues relevant for this analysis are: the perspectives of migrant workers in Russia, the foundations of their amazing resilience and why do labor migrants surprise researchers?