Conservative ministers, who are committed to substantially reducing levels of net migration, are under pressure from backbenchers to say how the UK will deal with a potential influx of new arrivals.
And as Western countries continue to struggle with sky-high unemployment, there is significant political pressure building against the idea of further labor migration.
Still, if xenophobia is one influence on Russia's migration policy (and racist murders are running at roughly one a week), there is another contradictory pressure that the Kremlin cannot ignore.