A group of weary-looking Indian men carrying sports bags queued at passport control at a busy Moscow airport one recent evening after flying over 2,700 miles - and via Uzbekistan - to get work.
"I have a contract for one year. In the rubbish disposal business. The money is good," said Ajit, one of the men, speaking in English.
Faced with what the authorities say is an immediate shortage of at least 2.3 million workers, a shortfall exacerbated by the strain of Russia's war in Ukraine and one that Russia's traditional source of foreign labour - Central Asians - is not able to fill, Moscow is turning to a new supplier: India.
INDIAN INFLUX HELPS RUSSIA MAKE UP LABOUR SHORTFALL
In 2021, a year before Russia sent its troops into Ukraine, some 5,000 work permits were approved for Indian nationals. Last year, almost 72,000 permits were okayed for Indians - nearly a third of the total annual quota for migrant workers on visas.
"Currently, expatriate employees from India are the most popular," said Alexei Filipenkov, director of a company that brings in Indian workers.
He said workers from ex-Soviet Central Asia, who do not need visas, had stopped coming in sufficient numbers. Official figures show they still made up the majority of some 2.3 million legal foreign workers not requiring a visa last year, however.
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