ABSTRACT
Institutional overlap and conflict in the sphere of migration policy-making and implementation, however, was initially minimized by the post-Soviet Russian government as a result of the formation of two distinct ‘battlefields’: concern with policy towards ‘compatriots abroad’; and issues relating to the resettlement of refugees and forced migrants in Russia. The latter were largely relegated to the status of a ‘social problem’ to be resolved by local socialsupport agencies (including the regional branches of the Federal Migration Service). Even the Federal Migration Service has increasingly distanced itself from these issues, seeking rather a greater role in policy-making and macrolevel monitoring and regulation of migration. Conflict over resourcing priorities and migration policy, therefore, has often been shifted both vertically-to the regional level-and horizontally to the sphere of government-NGO relations.
