"Since the early 1990s, the Russian Federation has been the biggest receiving, sending and transit country for migrant workers in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The country will need between 800,000 and 1.5 million migrant workers each year to compensate for its shrinking labour force and maintain economic growth. Poorer countries in the neighbourhood could solve the problem by sending their excess labour to Russia if the government adapts regulations and working conditions for migrants to the new situation" (Quoted from article)