Impatrianty: the new Russians from the West

The first gathering of ‘ideological’ immigrants who came to the country thanks to the ‘spiritual and moral’ visas introduced by Putin for people from ‘unfriendly’ countries who support the ideals of the Russian world took place in Šuj. To obtain a three-year residence permit it is sufficient to show medical insurance and sign an ideological declaration.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - In the library of the city of Šuj, in Russia's Ivanovo region, ‘ideological’ immigrants from Germany, Belgium, Austria, the US and other Western countries have gathered to assess the prospects and tasks of life in Russia, which they have chosen for ‘traditional values’ against the policies of their countries of origin.

The meeting was led by MP Maria Butina (pictured), a former Russian spy in the USA. The new term impatrianty was coined for them, ‘impatriates’ instead of ‘repatriates’, representing the opposite of migrants to be deported for the security of the country. The term was proposed in February 2024 by Italian student Irene Cecchini in a forum with Vladimir Putin, stating that she had ‘fallen in love with Russia’.

Butina announced the formation of an entire infrastructure to attract more and more foreigners intending to come to Russia from the West, since a decree by President Vladimir Putin instituted ‘visas for spiritual and moral reasons’ for people who come from ‘unfriendly’ countries but support the ideals of the ‘Russian world’.

The new company will organise ‘demonstration tours’ to all the cities in Russia where the ‘impatriates’ will move, and those who have already settled are tasked with commenting on and praising life in Russia through TikTok and various social platforms.

Novaja Evropa correspondent Julia Akhmedova tried to understand whether the ‘impatriates’ are really motivated by ideological values, or rather by material gratifications.

Using fictitious names, she interviewed some of them, such as the Asian Syan, a cryptocurrency trader who arrived in autumn 2024 in order to ‘understand Russia better’ and thus be able to follow financial transactions more comprehensively. In her opinion, ‘one-sided and distorted images of Russia’ are spread in her country and many others, while her colleagues are all ‘good, honest and efficient people’.

According to other ‘impatriates’, the countries from which they come are ‘vassals of America’, and they also praise the US military campaigns in Afghanistan and Syria, where instead they ‘spread chaos throughout the world’ by accusing the Russians of being ‘godless degenerates’.

The ‘new Russians’ have great veneration for the personality of Vladimir Putin, ‘he is a very intelligent person and we like to listen to him’, because unlike most politicians, ‘he does not make useless and empty speeches and is able to make strategic decisions over the long term’.

Many travel to Russia driven by the excessive cost of living in their own countries, which is often unaffordable even with good salaries. Syan herself recounts that she encountered many difficulties in obtaining a visa for Russia, but ‘at a certain point I turned to God’ to ask if ‘really Russia is the country for me’, and the next day Putin's decree for ‘spiritual’ visas was issued.

The arrival in Moscow is described by the ‘impatriates’ as a kind of ‘entrance to paradise’, in a city that is ‘super-technological, very modern and welcoming’, even if some consider the Muscovites to be ‘a bit too stingy’, and in any case the local cuisine is also very much appreciated, not too salty or spicy compared to Asian food, but much richer and tastier than Western food, and above all ‘without genetically modified organisms’. Several continue to work online for companies in their countries, but the salary allows them to maintain a much more satisfactory standard of living in Russia.

To obtain a residence permit as an ‘impatriate’, it is sufficient to show medical insurance and sign a declaration justifying the trip with ‘the rejection of the policy of one's own State, which imposes ideological visions that contradict traditional Russian moral and spiritual values’, immediately obtaining a three-year visa without even taking the Russian language and the Federation's history and legislation exams. Of course, ‘impatriates’ are allowed to travel anywhere and ‘repatriate’ for as long as they need to, and perhaps even to tell their (former?) compatriots about the wonders of Putin's Russia.