Paul Goble
Staunton, April 29 – Most Russians operate on the assumption that while non-Russians may assimilate to Russians, ethnic Russians will not assimilate to non-Russian nationalities even if they live among them. That has never been true, of course, despite Moscow’s best efforts; but it is seldom acknowledged even as a possibility.
That makes a new article by Aleksandr Shustov, a Russian commentator who specializes on ethnic issues, especially important. He says Moscow must try to repatriate ethnic Russians from Central Asia or else those Russians will be assimilated by the titular nationalities there in a few decades and lost to the Russian world (ritmeurasia.ru/news--2026-04-29--repatriacija-iz-srednej-azii-vostrebovana-russkimi-iz-za-ugrozy-assimiljacii-87395).
Russia already has a repatriation program which exists alongside but is fundamentally different from the resettlement of compatriots. Unlike the latter, repatriants can live wherever they like in the Russian Fedeation. Over the last two years, some 10,000 ethnic Russians have taken advantage of this program (vedomosti.ru/society/articles/2026/04/15/1190464-repatriantov-pereselilis).
A recent study by experts at Moscow State University and the Russian Academy of Sciences suggests that the potential number of repatriants could be much larger (jour.fnisc.ru/index.php/population/article/view/11063/10726), and Shustov argues that Moscow should act to get as many of them back as possible.
Otherwise, the commentator suggests, they will be lost to Russia entirely with many dying out and others eventually becoming part of the titular nationality
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