Migration in the Russia-Kazakhstan Border-Zone, the potential of regional sources, Based on the materials of the Main Directorate for Interaction with Law Enforcement and Military Agencies of the Chelyabinsk region, 2003-2016

Scientific article

DOI 10.28995/2073-0101-2026-1-109-122

For citation

Avdashkin, A. A. (2026). Migration in the Russia-Kazakhstan Border-Zone, the potential of regional sources. Based on the materials of the Main Directorate for Interaction with Law Enforcement and Military Agencies of the Chelyabinsk region, 2003-2016, Herald of an Archivist, no. 1. pp. 109-122. DOI 10.28995/2073-0101-2026-1-109-122

Avdashkin, A. A., Chelyabinsk State University, Chelyabinsk, Russia

Migration in the Russia-Kazakhstan Border-Zone, the potential of regional sources, Based on the materials of the Main Directorate for Interaction with Law Enforcement and Military Agencies of the Chelyabinsk region, 2003-2016

Abstract

The article is devoted to the problem of migration in the Russia-Kazakhstan border-zone in 2003-2016. Historiography on this topic is still in its infancy, published works are often interdisciplinary and rely almost on archival funds. Currently, the development of historical research in the field of migration and frontier studies is hampered by an insufficiently studied source base, primarily specialized archival funds and document collections reflecting migration processes in the border-zone, and assessments by regional authorities of the risks associated with border status. To further enhance scientific knowledge on the issue, it is important for the historical community to understand what materials on this issue are available in archives, their potential, and the range of topics that can be studied based on these documents. Thus, the repository of the United State Archive of the Chelyabinsk Region (OGACHO) has a fund of the Main Directorate for Interaction with Law Enforcement and Military Agencies, which revealed valuable documents for the period when cooperation between the Russian and Kazakh sides on the preventing illegal migration and smuggling was intensifying. This occurred against the background of strengthening cooperation between the authorities and security agencies of the Russian and Kazakh regions after the 2003 Forum of Border Regions in Omsk. The materials of the archive fund are limited to 2016, when large-scale reforms of the Ministry of Internal Affairs took place and the accumulated documents were transferred to the archive for safekeeping. The materials of the extended meetings of the FSB Board and the Security Council of the Chelyabinsk region can provide a systematic understanding of cross-border security issues to the historians. During these meetings, the annual work of government and law enforcement agencies was summarized, including various statistical indicators, challenges to cross-border security were outlined and so on. The introduction of these documents into scholarly will help better understand the migration situation on the border with Kazakhstan over the past two decades. Taking into account the limited volume of the manuscript, the author focused primarily on the interactions of enforcement agencies in the Chelyabinsk and Kostanay regions, as well as on the the characteristics of illegal migration and smuggling routes across the border. Such documents are just beginning to be introduced into scholarly, so it is crucial to expand the source base and incorporate data from the archives of other Russian and Kazakh regions to continue the research.

Keywords

Migration and the Russian frontier in Asia, migration processes, border-zone, Russian-Kazakh borderland, Chelyabinsk region, Kostanay region, cross-border cooperation, 2003 Forum of Border Regions in Omsk, sources.

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About authors

Andrey Aleksandrovich Avdashkin, Cand. of Sci. (History), Associate Professor, Chelyabinsk State University, Faculty of History and Philology, Department of Political Science and International Relations, Chelyabinsk, Russia, 8-951-123-37-93, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Grant information

This article was prepared with the financial support of the Russian Science Foundation grant (no. 25-28-01152) «Migration and the Russian Frontier in Asia: Mobility Practices, Transnationalism, and Challenges to Sustainable Development», https://rscf.ru/project/25-28-01152/

The article was received in the editorial office on 29.01.2025, recommended for publication on 20.12.2025.