Human Trafficking from Russia: Political Responses and Public Opinion

The objects of this case study on the Russian Federation are fivefold: first, to locate contemporary patterns of migration within, from, and to the former Soviet space, focusing ultimately on human trafficking as one form of migration; second, to underscore how research agendas on migratory processes in different parts of the world may be framed by very different concerns, questions, and perceptions, and may not accept the defining narratives of other regions; third, to indicate the complexities of defining ‘human trafficking’ and the significance of different approaches to it; fourth, to show how the Russian political system responded to pressures made on the state for action specifically against human trafficking; and finally, against this background, to discuss original data from a nationwide public opinion poll in Russia concerning attitudes towards the process of trafficking and conclusions about the contemporary state’s institutional capacity to deal with it. ...