Russian President Vladimir Putin has instructed the Interior Ministry to create a service for citizenship and foreigner registration.  The corresponding decree from the head of state was published on the Kremlin's portal.

On April 2, President Vladimir Putin ordered the Interior Ministry to establish this service based on the Main Directorate for Migration Issues.

The head of the new service will be Andrei Kikoty, former prosecutor of the Novgorod region.  He will become a deputy head of the Interior Ministry and will join the Interdepartmental Commission of the Security Council on improving state migration policy.

Addressing members of Federation Council (Russia’s upper chamber of parliament), Russian Prosecutor-General Igor Krasnov stated yesterday that the police had made “significant omissions” in migration control issues.

“Much of this is why there was a lack of up-to-date information about the status and movements of foreigners, and their departure from the country was not ensured. In 1,500 cases, prosecutors challenged fictitious grounds for legalizing migrants in court," Krasnov said.

The Interior Ministry representative Irina Volk explained on Telegram that the creation of the new service would allow for “greater effectiveness” in solving migration issues and would “significantly increase the dynamics” of this work.

"Undoubtedly, the main task is to streamline migration processes, implement measures aimed at ensuring” migrants comply with Russian legislation, and reduce illegal activities,” Ms. Volk wrote.

On April 5, 2016, the Russian president issued a decree abolishing the Federal Migration Service.  Its functions and powers were transferred to the Interior Ministry Main Directorate for Migration Issues.

In December 2024, Vladimir Putin spoke about the need to create a separate "powerful center" within the Interior Ministry to focus on migration issues.  At that time, he stated that a separate agency for working with migrants was not yet necessary.