The subject of the study is the dynamics and structure of national flows of migrants from the CIS countries during the pandemic. The aim of the paper is to identify the degree of influence of the pandemic and the restrictive measures taken on changing the scale and purposes of entry of citizens of the CIS countries into Russia. The relevance of the study is due to the growing influence of unforeseen and massive natural and political phenomena on migration flows as the main drivers of cross-border mobility. The scientific novelty is determined both by the lack of such studies and by the special interest in national migration flows, their dynamics and goal-setting in conditions of force majeure. The research methods are analysis, systematization, synthesis and classification of the objects under study. The author obtained the following results: restrictions during the pandemic seriously affect the scale of national migration flows to Russia, and primarily labor. However, long-term trends in maintaining or changing the direction of flows are determined primarily by a complex of socio-economic and political factors, and not by historically established migration channels. The author concludes that the migration flows of the CIS countries' citizens are sufficiently stable over time and are significant for the current system of migration regulation in Russia. The practical interest of the study is connected both with the developed classification of national contingents of migrants in terms of volume and purpose of entry and with the results of the analysis of their delivery channels - for the purposes of forecasting and planning the scale and structure of attracting foreign labor to Russia.