In the past year, almost 150 thousand Russians returned home from abroad, the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs reported, which later was confirmed by the Russian Foreign Ministry.
This is not only about those living in the CIS, but also about those who moved to the countries of the European Union. About 30 thousand people moved from European countries last year. This process is partly connected with the development of the state program to facilitate the voluntary resettlement of compatriots living abroad to home, as well as the strengthening of anti-Russian sentiments in the EU and the sanctions.
Russians who have moved to Europe often lose their qualifications, as they often are not able to exercise their professions, and forced to take low-paid positions.
In addition, about a third of Russians returned to their homeland because they felt uncomfortable for political reasons, living even in such friendly countries as the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Izvestia reported.
"Information in the majority of media is initially distorted in order to keep the population of Europe in fear of Russia." When you belong to a group that is under constant pressure, patriotic sentiments begin to grow in your mind, " a Russian man who lived in Paris for more than 20 years said.
"I realized that I have much less prospects for employment in Germany than in Russia," a man, who decided to return home after 12 years of living in Germany, noted.
"It was unjustified hatred for Russia that served as the main motive for me to return home after more than 19 years of living in the Czech Republic," Natalia, who worked in Prague as the director of the art gallery, said.
The director of the Center for Political Information, Alexei Mukhin, told Vestnik Kavkaza that Russians return to their homeland because abroad is no longer as safe as before. "To the economic reasons of leaving Europe for Russia, an element of instability and the domination of illegal migrants is added," he said, adding that in the future the trend for returning emigrants to Russia will continue.
"The number of returning Russians will grow as the attractiveness of the Russian economy is increasing." Independent international rating agencies invariably increase this figure, which causes a reverse outflow of Russians. I think that this positive trend will be encouraged by the state, which is planning serious improvements for highly qualified specialists," Alexei Mukhin stressed.
A member of the European Research Centre of the International Relations Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladimir Olenchenko, More details on the reasons for the return migration of Russians. "The EU economy is stagnating, which means that workers earn less, the number of jobs is reduced," he noted in the first place.
"The unstable policy of the future in the EU, connected with a serious migration crisis, also has an impact. Due to the oversupply of Europe by refugees from Africa and the Middle East they are displacing other immigrants from those areas where they worked. The UK's determination to withdraw from the European Union is also a problem. As a result, the economic factor and the pressure of migration is forcing migrants from Russia and other European countries to return to their homeland," Vladimir Olenchenko noticed.
He also expects an increase in the return migration of Russians. "The UK provides about 15% of the financial contributions to the EU budget and the loss of this money will affect the European economy .The uncertainty in the relations between the EU and the US is holding back businessmen from investing money and creating jobs in Europe, so people will continue to leave for their homeland against this background," the member of the European Research Centre of the International Relations Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences concluded.
