Moral migrants, bitter arrivals: Inside Russia's “values visa” trap

This past winter, an Estonian citizen named Daniil (name changed) crossed the Russian border over the ice of Lake Peipus and requested asylum. As a result, he has spent the past four months in Pskov Pre-trial Detention Center No. 1, complaining about harsh conditions that include cold, mice, and sedative injections administered without his consent.

In a letter to human rights advocates, the 25-year-old explained that he fled because his lack of Estonian language skills made it impossible for him to find work and support himself in a country that had “started banning the Russian language in schools.” As Daniil wrote, “I had long heard that Russia had a resettlement program — that people were moving to live in Russia.”

Russia does in fact have two programs that actively encourage people with Soviet roots to relocate. Since 2006, the country has operated the CompatriotResettlement Program, and since 2024, a separate repatriation program that is also aimed at native Russian speakers and their descendants. By all appearances, Daniil would have been an ideal candidate for either program. The Baltic states are among the key regions where these initiatives are promoted.

Moreover, the Pskov Region where Daniil was locked up in pretrial detention has been actively recruiting Estonian citizens to address labor shortages, Estonian outlet Postimees reported. Estonia’s Department of Statistics recorded that in 2023, a total of 512 residents moved permanently to Russia, and in 2024 the number rose to 868.

The article’s authors point to a growing number of Russian propaganda materials carrying headlines such as “Study in your native language,” “Now they can freely speak their native language,” “In Russia, family and history are respected,” and “Welcome home.” As the outlet concluded, the programs “market relocation as a story of ‘spiritual and moral salvation.’”

Official media in the Pskov Region, along with local officials writing on their personal blogs, constantly promote images of successful relocation stories involving Russian-speaking residents of the Baltics. The Telegram channel of Elena Polonskaya, the Governor’s Commissioner for Work with Compatriots, regularly posts stories about repatriates. For example, jeweler and artist Irena Pabo said in an interview with Pskov’s Silver Rain radio station that she had been afraid to remain in Estonia because “factories producing explosives and drones are being built there.”

Polonskaya also shared a report by the Russian state broadcaster Vesti describing how Pskov had revived the “historic tradition of church services for settlers from other countries.”

“At the Church of St. George from the Ascent, services for Orthodox Latvians had been held every two weeks since the late 19th century. On the feast day of the Holy Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, more than 70 settlers from various European countries gathered there. The liturgy for our compatriots was led by Metropolitan Matfey of Pskov and Porkhov,” the report stated.