(MENAFN) Russia could receive as many as one million skilled workers from India by the end of 2025 to help alleviate its growing labor shortage, according to Andrey Besedin, President of the Ural Chamber of Commerce and Industry (UCCI).

In an interview with a media organization, Besedin revealed that Indian officials provided the estimate during a recent meeting. He also noted that a new Indian consulate is expected to open in Yekaterinburg to help manage the influx. “As far as I’ve heard from my Indian colleagues, up to one million specialists from India will arrive in Russia, including the Sverdlovsk Region, by the end of the year,” he stated.

Besedin explained that many Russian industrial companies are under pressure to increase production, driven by domestic efforts to replace imports and meet the needs of the ongoing military campaign in Ukraine. However, a shortage of skilled workers remains a major obstacle. “Part of the workforce has been sent to the special military operation, and the youth are not going to factories,” he said.

According to him, the incoming Indian workforce is expected to be employed in key sectors such as metallurgy and mechanical engineering.

Besedin also mentioned that Russia is exploring labor cooperation with other countries, including Sri Lanka and North Korea. Although he acknowledged that Russia has little experience working with migrants from these nations, he described the effort as a “new level of international labor cooperation.”

Official forecasts from Russia’s Ministry of Labor suggest the country could face a shortage of 3.1 million workers by 2030. In 2024, Russian firms hired only 47,000 skilled migrants from visa-required countries, highlighting the scale of the labor gap.

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