Paul Goble
Staunton, Mar. 15 – The number of compatriots returning to Russia fell to 31,700 in 2024, less than half of the figure in 2022 and the lowest level in the last 14 years, Kommersant reports. Officials say that the decline reflects both the situation and new rules requiring those claiming that status to speak Russian more or less fluently.
Most were from Kazakhstan or Tajikistan, but 1800 were from countries Moscow classifies as “unfriendly” including Germany, Moldova and Latvia (kommersant.ru/doc/7566175 and novayagazeta.eu/articles/2025/03/13/kommersant-v-2024-godu-po-programme-pereseleniia-sootechestvennikov-v-rossiiu-pereekhalo-rekordno-malenkoe-kolichestvo-liudei-news).
While the paper did not say so, the introduction of more restrictive Russian language knowledge requirements will effectively keep non-Russians like the Circassians from returning to places within the current borders of the Russian Federation where Circassian is spoken as an official language – Adygeya, KBR and KChR.
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