Far Fewer Russians who Fled Abroad after Invasion have Returned than Putin Claims, Even ‘Izvestiya’ Admits

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Dec. 11 – Earlier this year, Vladimir Putin said that half of all the Russians who fled their country since the start of his expanded invasion of Ukraine have returned; but now, a Russian government newspaper says that no more than 40 percent have and admits that the actual number may be as small as 26 percent.

            Not only is it striking that Izvestiya has chosen to challenge Putin’s figures, something neither it nor other media outlets controlled by the regime, but the likelihood that the real numbers are only slightly more than half of what he says means that fight from Russia will continue to have a far larger impact than Putin’s numbers would suggest.

            Using the Rosstat report that 668,400 Russians moved abroad in 2022, the differences in the share returning from 50 percent to 40 percent or even 26 percent are enormous in terms of their economic and political consequences (iz.ru/1614085/mariia-stroiteleva/domashniaia-rabota-okolo-40-relokantov-reshili-vernutsia-v-rossiiu).