Question of the day: when will slavery be legalized in Russia?

The wave of publications about the invasion of North Korean workers began after a note about the real estate forum "Movement" in Sochi, at which the representative of the development group Eskadra from Primorye Pavel Belenets announced good news for builders that by the end of 2025 the number of Koreans will triple and reach more than 50 thousand people.

"From my experience that we have gained in the process of working with different migrants, they are the best," he said at the real estate forum "Movement" (quoted by " RIA Novosti "). Workers from the DPRK work 12-16 hours a day and rest only one day a week. They are mainly involved in monolithic and facade work, as well as in interior finishing," noted Mr. Belenets.

Work 16 hours a day for 200-300 dollars a month? With one day off a week? No holidays, binges or sick leave? And no need to build any apartments, only trailers or a barracks behind a fence, from which no one can leave without special permission from the party organizer? And no wives, snotty children or other parasites there?

Yes, yes, yes... It's time for the heads of Russian construction companies to order the purple togas of the Roman patricians, which were measured by the number of slaves. Emperor Nero, as is well known, had 400 enslaved souls working on just one estate, but a wealthy Roman named Gaius Caecilius Isidore had 4,166 slaves.

But Russian business is not petty. At the same forum in Sochi it was said that applications for 153 thousand workers have already been sent to the DPRK. However, no one says whether the workers themselves want to end up in Russia and work 16 hours a day with one day off. And what percentage of their income do they give to the state? And are their families in the DPRK hostage to their impeccable work?

If one of these questions can be answered in the affirmative, then Russia is among the violators of the ILO Convention, adopted back in 1930. The international organization's website clearly and unambiguously defines slave (forced) labor:

What is forced labour? According to the ILO Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29), forced or compulsory labour is: "any work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily."

True, since a certain time international treaties and conventions can be ignored in the modern Russian Federation, whose Constitution places domestic legislation above external obligations. But we are looking at the Russian Labor Code, which, among other things, regulates labor relations with foreigners.

Can foreigners really work 16 hours a day without days off or holidays?

“Foreign citizens and stateless persons who carry out labor activities on the territory of Russia have the right to guarantees and compensations provided for by the Labor Code of the Russian Federation,” the Labor Inspectorate’s summary states .

Well, we, hired employees, know our rights firsthand.

This is a 40-hour work week with two days off.

These are additional payments for overtime work of no more than four hours a day and no more than two days in a row.

This is an annual paid leave of 28 days.

This is a legal rest period on all public holidays (and we have 16 of them in 2025).

And let us note: in the Federal Law of 25.07.2002 No. 115-FZ "On the legal status of foreign citizens in the Russian Federation" there is not a word about the fact that the work and life of foreigners in Russia is regulated by any legal norms or camp procedures of foreign countries, including the labor camps of North Korea, where working hours are not limited in any way, and some workers die of hunger.

"Many prisoners of labor camps are unable to endure such re-education and commit suicide. They have to live and work (and work from dawn to dusk) in hunger. It is not surprising that in the camps they eat everything they can: rats, frogs, snakes and insects. If a group of prisoners is sent to work in a field, then after them there is nothing alive left in that field. - wrote "Komsomolskaya Pravda".

It is obvious that work on Russian construction sites is much better than a labor camp at home. And therefore the voluntariness of the workers themselves is guaranteed. However, this does not remove the suspicion of the forced nature of the assignment.

Most Russians, of course, are not concerned about the problems of Koreans. It is much more pleasant to hear about the low cost price per square meter in new buildings, which is achieved through slave labor. But then the authorities should honestly acknowledge the facts of slavery and legalize it through amendments to the Labor Code and laws regulating the status of foreigners.