Russia’s religious leader correctly demands a defense of culture, language, and society.

Russians have the right to demand that migrants respect the country’s culture and traditions, as well as acquiring knowledge of the Russian language, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, has said.

The hierarch was addressing an extraordinary meeting of the World Russian People’s Council on Wednesday when he observed that some migrants showed no signs of wanting to integrate into Russian society. This could lead to various problems, according to the patriarch, including the emergence of closed ethnic enclaves and the growth of organized crime.

“Many consider migration a threat, but the threat lies not just in migration, but in the reluctance of some migrants to respect the culture of the country where they came to work. Around us live fraternal peoples, with whom we have always strived to build good neighborly relations, understanding the difficult economic situation that has developed in a number of countries of the former Soviet Union,” said Kirill, as quoted by RIA Novosti.

A Russian has but to look at the collapse of immigration law in the former United States for what the ultimate alternative looks like. And, yes, for a Westerner, even one who understands, it is still hard to sometimes appreciate the Russian position on multi-national nationalism. But it works. They intend to keep it working.