Moscow: While it is not new that Indians work as labourers in foreign countries, Reuters reported that Russia has eased the visa process for Indians in bulk to keep up with its acute labour shortage, partly due to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
The report painted a picture of the situation, with a group of unsure-looking Indian men at the passport control line in Moscow airport carrying sports bags as their only luggage, who flew over 4,000 km to get a job.
“I have a contract for one year. In the rubbish disposal business. The money is good,” one of the men, Ajit, told the news outlet.
According to authorities, there is an immediate shortage of at least 2.3 million workers, a phenomenon further intensified due to the Russia-Ukraine war.
Major surge in Indian workers cleared to work in Moscow
Traditionally, Russia relied on its neighbouring countries like Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in Central Asia for foreign labour. However, with the war-ravaged scene, labourers from Central Asia are no longer enough, forcing Russia to look for new sources.
A year before Russia sent its military into Ukraine, in 2021, around 5,000 work permits were granted for Indian nationals. In 2025, 72,000 permits were estimated to be approved for Indians, which is almost a third of the total number of migrant workers on visas allowed annually.
Alexei Filipenkov, director of one such company that draws in Indian workers, said labourers from the ex-Soviet Central Asia stopped coming in adequate numbers.
Central Asians generally do not need a visa to enter Russia, but starting June 2025, Russia introduced a pre-entry requirement, imposing visa-like restrictions.
“Currently, expatriate employees from India are the most popular,” he said, adding that official data shows that Central Asians still contribute to the majority of the 2.3 million foreign workers allowed without a visa in 2025.
Unskilled labour from India points to strong ties between the two countries
A weaker rouble, anti-immigrant discourse within Russian politicians and stricter migration laws have likely diminished their figures, instead encouraging Moscow to increase visa quotas for other foreign workers.
Russia’s choice of India as an alternative for unskilled labour reflects more deeply rooted ties between Moscow and New Delhi.
India is known to buy cheaper Russian oil that Moscow cannot readily sell because of Western sanctions, but with the new India-US bilateral trade agreement, the deal remains questionable.
In December 2025, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a deal, essentially making it easier for Indians to be employed in Russia.
During the signing, Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister, Denis Manturov, said the country can accept an “unlimited number” of Indian labourers.
He said as many as 8,00,000 workers were required in manufacturing and 1.5 million in the construction and service sector.
Indians put to work at farms and factories
A Russian textiles company called Brera Intex reportedly hired at least 10 workers from South Asia to make bed sheets and curtains.
A 26-year-old Indian migrant worker, Gaurav said he has been working in Russia for three months now. “I was told to come (over) to this side, that the work and money are good,” he told Reuters.
“Russian life is very good,” he said, adding that he talks to his wife and two children back home in India on call every day.
The company’s owner, Olga Lugovskaya, said the workers adapted to the work fairly quickly and were in good spirits. “Some of the guys who came in didn’t even know how to switch on a sewing machine,” she said. “(But) after two or three months, you could already trust them to sew a proper finished item.”
On the outskirts of Moscow, the Sergiyevsky farm also depends on Indian labour, using them for packing and processing vegetables. They receive a salary of roughly 50,000 roubles (Rs 58,693) each month, a salary for which the locals will not work, reportedly.
“I have been working here, at Sergiyevsky, for one year. In India, there is little money, but here there is a lot of money. The work is here,” said 23-year-old Sahil from Punjab.
As of now, there has been no clear indication from Moscow about major tensions with India, while the US has stated that the BTA came into agreement because India stopped purchasing Russian oil.
