Dozens of Britons have taken up Vladimir Putin’s offer to ditch the “woke” West and move to Russia instead, Moscow has claimed.
At least 34 people have requested to move to Russia from the UK after Putin changed immigration laws in an Executive Order on Aug 19, according to the Russian Embassy in London.
Putin said the aim of providing such “humanitarian aid” was to “save” those who identify with Russian “spiritual and moral values” from “destructive neoliberal ideological attitudes” in the West.
Those who applied have not had to prove they can speak Russian or have any knowledge of the “history and fundamentals of Russian legislation”, as is usually the case when permanently emigrating to Russia.
The figures have been lauded on Russian TV and by politicians alike as proof that those in the West are rejecting its “liberal agenda”.
“In the West, it seemed like they were just waiting for Putin’s document to appear… Tired of the liberal agenda – that’s how everyone who contacted the Russian diplomatic mission explained their decision,” reported Tsargrad TV, which has links to the Kremlin.
Irina Volk, a major-general from Russia’s Interior Ministry, said such moves have occurred after “the abolition of traditional moral and family values in American society, as well as the low level of education.”
‘I want to thank President Putin’
The move, which is not limited to the UK, comes after Russia allowed a family of Americans to move to Russia. Leo Lionel and Chantel Felice moved to Russia from the US with their children, aged 16, 14, and 11.
“Personally, I want to thank your President Putin for allowing Russia to become a good place for families in this world climate,” Mr Lionel said. We intend to use this opportunity to benefit our family. I feel like I’ve been put in an arch of safety. And it’s very important, thank you so much.”
Meanwhile, Arend Feinstra left his home in Ontario, Canada, to move to Russia with his wife and eight children. “We didn’t feel safe with our children there and for the future,” he explained.
“There’s a lot of left-wing ideology, LGBTQ, trans, just a lot of things that we don’t agree with they teach there now. We wanted to get away from that for our children. But also, for economic reasons, the farming has better opportunities. We felt that Russia was best.”
Foreign fighters
There are also fears Putin could use the extended immigration scheme as an avenue to recruit foreigners to fight in its invasion of Ukraine.
Russia would certainly have “no qualms” about letting any of these emigrants join the army to fight against Ukraine, according to Mark Galeotti, executive director at Mayak Intelligence and an East European studies professor at UCL. “It would be a great PR advantage,” he told The Telegraph.
But for Mr Galeotti, Putin’s move is much more about spreading propaganda across Russia in order to make Russians think they have never had it so good.
“It is not the same as recruiting a bunch of Nepalis whom you can pay peanuts to. This is more about the propaganda, which is about being able to say, ‘Look, these Westerners are so sick of wokeness in the West that they recognise Russia is much better,’” Galeotti explained.
But if any emigrants were to decide they wanted to fight against Ukraine, their citizenship could be fast-tracked to facilitate them joining the army.
It was revealed in March that two British men, Ben Stimson and Aiden Minnis, had left the UK to go and fight for Moscow against Ukraine.
The Foreign Office does not hold details of how many British nationals live overseas and advises against all travel to Russia.
The Foreign Office declined to comment.
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