The initiative was led by Sergey Mironov, the head of the party “Fair Russia – For Truth.” According to him, in 2024, foreigners transferred more than $14 billion out of the country.
Mironov believes that just from the transfers to Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, the budget could potentially gain an additional 45 billion rubles. He emphasized that the majority of migrants do not pay taxes in Russia, yet they are withdrawing substantial amounts, which he thinks the government is neglecting.
To earn money, an increasing number of Uzbek workers are migrating to Kazakhstan instead of Russia. The Uzbekistan migration agency reports that by early 2025, the number of Uzbeks working in Russia decreased from 1.2 million at the start of 2024 to 698,000.
At the same time, the number of Uzbeks working in Kazakhstan rose from 196,800 in 2024 to 322,700 by 2025.