Both Vikings and Greeks: How Europeans are moving to Russia
2.5 million Germans want to move to Russia - this figure was announced at the Ugra Economic Forum in mid-November by Andrei Belianinov, Secretary General of the Assembly of Peoples of Eurasia and Africa. The topic was raised again at the World Russian People's Council. There are indeed examples of Germans and citizens of other Western countries moving to Russia - Europeans are settling in the Kaluga and Nizhny Novgorod regions, creating eco-settlements. But so far, experts say, these are still individual enthusiasts. To make the emerging trend a sustainable phenomenon, a special program is being developed in Russia, which will be ready in February, Izvestia has learned.
How many Europeans want to live in Russia
Andrei Belianinov, in a speech at the plenary session of the Ugra Economic Forum on November 18, called the resettlement of Germans and citizens of other European countries a possible point of economic growth for Russian regions.
"2.5 million Germans want to move to the Russian Federation. Not only Germans are joining this movement, but already citizens of the Netherlands and Italy," he said. - Pontian Greeks also want to return to the places of their historical residence. The trend is becoming more and more serious.
In the middle of last week, Deputy Head of the Federal Agency for CIS Affairs Dmitry Polikanov spoke about the same issue at the World Russian People's Council. According to him, the number of people from unfriendly countries who "share our values and want to live in Russia" has increased over the past two years. He said that a special group would be created under the council of heads of regions to facilitate the entry of people from unfriendly countries, which would be headed by the governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region, Gleb Nikitin.
Later, Andrei Belianinov told Izvestia that "hundreds of thousands of Russian Germans" want to live and work in Russia, and these are "highly qualified specialists and entrepreneurs."
- Interestingly and importantly, even those Germans, Dutch and residents of other countries who do not have Russian roots are ready to move. Why do they aspire to Russia? First of all, because we preserve traditional values," he said. - There are also economic reasons: the standard of living in their countries is falling. These people will bring money, ideas, technology, patents. They are not freeloaders, they are not coming for a piece of bread, but to strengthen the economy and scientific and technical potential. And the regions should create conditions, resettlement programs should become a priority.
Waldemar Gerdt, head of the International Council of Russian Germans and founder of the International Agency for Business Relocation and Collective Resettlement, told Izvestia that 1.7 million people left Germany last year. However, only 3.5 thousand of them went to Russia.
- This year even more will leave, because the crisis is getting worse," he said. - It depends on you and me how many of the next 2 million Germans who will leave Germany will choose Russia.
Waldemar Gerdt believes it is realistic to resettle 2.5-3 million people in Russia in the next one and a half to two years, but a system must be created for this purpose. This, he says, is now being done by all countries that are "hunting for highly qualified specialists from Germany." Many Germans, he continues, who have considered moving to Russia, have decided to go to Latin America because there are fewer bureaucratic barriers there.
Head of the International Council of Russian Germans, founder of the International Agency for Business Relocation and Collective Resettlement Waldemar Gerdt
Pavel Konovalov, Minister of Labor and Social Protection of the Kaluga Region, told Izvestia that Germans and representatives of other countries have indeed begun to move to the region, with qualified and highly skilled workers, as well as representatives of small and medium-sized businesses. But so far this cannot be called a sustainable trend.
Andrei Belianinov notes that many compatriots with Greek roots, who settled in Greece after the collapse of the USSR, also want to move to Russia.
- Our partners conducted a small study: about 50% of families with roots in Russia, who live in Athens and Thessaloniki, are ready to move to the southern regions of the Russian Federation, where historically there were places of compact Greek residence," he told Izvestia.
Waldemar Gerdt said that, according to the agency's internal survey, for Germans moving to historical places of residence is exactly unimportant - more than 65% of them are ready to move "wherever they are needed."
In the official data it is still difficult to see real trends in the desire of Europeans to go to Russia. However, in the quarterly statistics of the Ministry of Internal Affairs on the implementation of the program of voluntary resettlement in Russia of compatriots living abroad, it is noticeable how the share of German citizens applying for participation in this program is growing. If in 2023 the share of Germans was not shown in the statistics at all, at the beginning of 2024 it amounted to 2.5% of the total number, in the second quarter - 2.7%, and according to the results of August-October - already 3.3%. At the same time, the total number of repatriates under the program is falling.
Vyacheslav Postavnin, head of the Center for Analytical and Practical Studies of Migration Processes, is sure that the tendency to move to Russia is not so serious that one can talk about solving the country's economic problems at the expense of European specialists and businessmen. In his opinion, the story of migrants carries more of an ideological load than a real practical one.
What is needed for the migrants
Andrei Belianinov noted that Greeks for relocation would like to receive land plots, benefits and tax exemption for three years to start a business - most of them are entrepreneurs. Waldemar Gerdt, in turn, noted that the Germans do not expect any special privileges that would distinguish them from the locals - it would cause confrontation. They need help in moving.
- The most important thing is to remove bureaucratic obstacles," he said. - Recently I decided to register myself in Russia as a highly qualified specialist, to go through all the instances on my own to see the bottlenecks in the system. And now I've been running around for four months doing all the paperwork. A business man, a businessman who knows his worth, would not go for this - he would turn around and leave.
The program of assistance to resettlement of compatriots does not help much in this sense: firstly, it does not concern foreigners who are not connected with Russia in any way, and secondly, it is "a very cumbersome, bureaucratized instrument".
- That's why we need a different program now," he said. - We are working on it together with the P.A. Stolypin Volga Institute of Management. P.A. Stolypin Povolzhsky Institute of Management of the Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration and Kaluga Region, which will be the first to implement it to attract highly qualified specialists, investors and owners of small and medium-sized businesses. The program will create a systematic approach that will simplify the process of moving to Russia.
According to Gerdt, after the launch of the program, the agency will engage in a PR campaign, thanks to which Europeans will learn about the conditions for living in Russia.
- I couldn't do this before, because I realized that if the flow moves, we will choke," he admits. - The first negative experience, the second, the third, and people would simply turn around and leave. Now there are many enthusiasts, but they have grinded and chewed up this entire bureaucratic system on their own, regardless of anything.
Waldemar Gerdt told Izvestia that the program will appear in February. In what form it will be formalized and how it will work, has not yet been disclosed.
It should be noted that steps are already being taken to meet the needs of Western citizens wishing to move to Russia. In August, President Vladimir Putin had already issued a decree according to which citizens of countries whose policies contradict traditional values will be able to ask for a temporary residence permit in Russia without proof of knowledge of the Russian language, history and legislation.
Will there be new German slobodas in Russia?
In Soviet Russia, Germans briefly even had their own statehood - the Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic of the Volga Germans. However, now, emphasizes Waldemar Gerdt, they are not going to live separately and certainly do not claim their own republic. Germans are ready to build their own slobodas, but at the same time not to close themselves off from locals and Russians.
- We know how to live in good neighborliness with any nations, passing on our knowledge and accepting experience from them," he says. - Yes, such eco-settlements will help us preserve our culture and language, but anyone can settle in communes. They will not be enclaves of any kind.
Pavel Konovalov also notes that there are no German settlements as such in Kaluga Oblast, although the resettlers mostly prefer rural areas. For example, one of the immigrants, a Swiss, has long ago opened his own farm in Tarusa, where he not only runs a business, but also helps the wards of the boarding home. Another example also from the Kaluga region: in 2021, a family with two children came from Germany under the program of resettlement of compatriots. In Russia, they opened a German bakery: in Germany, the head of the family worked as a baker for almost 24 years and has a specialized education.
And Olga Guseva, Minister of International and Interregional Relations of Nizhny Novgorod Region, tells about the history of one of the eco-settlements near Nizhny Novgorod, founded by Remo Kirsch, a German. He first came to this region several years ago as part of the Friendship Global project: Germans traveled by car along the Berlin-Moscow route and visited different regions of the Russian Federation.
- Remo Kirsch told us then that he would like to stay in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast and build an eco-settlement here. To be honest, I was skeptical at first, because there were quite a lot of such proposals, but they were not implemented," Olga Guseva told Izvestia.
In the end, the regional authorities found a plot of land near Nizhny Novgorod for Remo Kirsch, and he actually began to build an eco-settlement there for those who, for ideological reasons, decided to move to Russia. Now this German village is growing. It is called "RuDe" - from the words Russland and Deutschland.
Recently, at the request of the governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region, Remo Kirsch became a Russian citizen.
- Now there are several hundred families from different countries in line to move, and 150 families have already sent applications," said Olga Guseva. - Several families following Remo Kirsch have already moved and are building a life here. Most of them are families with many children. Recently, the head of a construction company moved his business to us. A Canadian family of farmers with many children came here. There are people from Australia, South Africa, France. All in all, about 10 families.
Not everyone lives in RuDa - someone has settled in the city, someone in the countryside. The new Russian Germans are not looking for isolation from the Russians.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
