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RE-EMIGRATION: Why Russians Who Fled The War Are Returning Home

As many as half of the Russians who went abroad after their country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and Putin’s mobilization later that year have returned home. We know this both from official Russian sources and the statistics of the countries to which emigrés fled. We spoke with a few returnees about why they decided to come home and how Russia changed while they were away.

According to Russia’s Federal State Statistics Service, 668,400 Russians left the country in 2022. By the following year, according to Russian news outlets, between 120,000 and 334,000 of them had returned home. Bloomberg Economics estimated that “return migration” accounted for as much as one-third of Russia’s GDP growth in 2023, writing that returnees tend to have higher salaries and better working conditions. Those we spoke with described the financial hardship, visa issues, mental illness, and homesickness experienced while abroad.

“I never wanted to leave Russia for good. I guess I can’t imagine being a citizen of another country,” said Andrei from Yekaterinburg. “Although Russia has to overcome some major challenges and no one knows how long before it gets on track, I know it can become a place where people will want to live – not in the sense of forcing themselves to put up with a government they despise out of patriotism, but in order to help Russia prosper.”