Ethnic Russians in post-Soviet states

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union (USSR) in December 1991, about 25 million ethnic Russians in post-Soviet states found themselves living outside of Russia.

All former Soviet citizens had a time window within which they could transfer their former Soviet citizenship to Russian citizenship.[citation needed] Where they did not exercise that choice, their resulting citizenship status outside Russia varied by state: from no perceivable change in status – as in Belarus – to becoming permanently resident "non-citizens" – as in Estonia and Latvia, which restricted citizenship to their pre-World War II citizens and their offspring (regardless of ethnic group) upon restoration of their independence in continuity with their sovereign identities prior to June 1940.

In June 2006 Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a plan to introduce national policy aiming at encouraging ethnic Russian immigration to Russia.[1]

Map showing Ethnic Russians in post-Soviet states
Ethnic Russians in post-Soviet states
Country Number of
ethnic Russians
Percent of
national population
As of
(census data)
 Ukraine 8,334,141 17.3 2001[2]
 Kazakhstan 3,000,611 15.2 2023[3]
 Uzbekistan 720,324 2.1 2021[4]
 Belarus 706,992 7.5 2019[5]
 Latvia 445,612 23.7 2023[6]
 Estonia 306,801 22.5 2023[7]
 Kyrgyzstan 274,000 3.9 2023[8]
 Turkmenistan 242,000 5.1 2012[9]
 Lithuania 146,000 5.1 2023[10]
 Moldova 111,726 4.1 2014[11]
 Azerbaijan 71,000 0.7 2019[12]
 Tajikistan 30,200 0.3 2020[13]
 Georgia 26,586 0.7 2014[a]
 Armenia 14,074 0.5 2022[14]

^ Does not include Abkhazia (2011 census: 22,077 Russians or 9.1% of the population) or South Ossetia (2007 estimate: 2,100 Russians or 3.0% of the population).

^ In Turkmenistan, there were estimated to be at most 150,000 ethnic Russians as of 2007, or under 2% of the population. In Uzbekistan the same year, the Russian population stood at some 800,000 people or under 4% of the country.[15]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Latvia: Ethnic Russians Divided On Moscow's Repatriation Scheme
  2. ^ "2001 | English version | Results | General results of the census | National composition of population". 2007-07-06. Archived from the original on 2007-07-06. Retrieved 2024-02-24.
  3. ^ "2023 Estmate". Archived from the original on 2018-06-26. Retrieved 2018-01-05.
  4. ^ "Permanent population by national and / or ethnic group, urban / rural place of residence". data.egov.uz (in Russian). Retrieved 2024-02-24.
  5. ^ https://www.belstat.gov.by/upload/iblock/b49/b49a6306ec95b5c2d851e897490581a3.pdf
  6. ^ "Population by ethnicity at the beginning of year 1935 - 2023". Oficiālās statistikas portāls. Retrieved 2024-02-24.
  7. ^ "RV0222U: POPULATION BY SEX, ETHNIC NATIONALITY AND COUNTY, 1 JANUARY". PxWeb. Retrieved 2024-02-24.
  8. ^ "Statistical Yearbook of the Kyrgyz Republic - Publications Archive - Statistics of the Kyrgyz Republic". www.stat.kg. Retrieved 2024-02-28.
  9. ^ "The results of census in Turkmenistan | Chronicles of Turkmenistan". Archived from the original on 2016-10-06.
  10. ^ "Rodiklių duomenų bazė - Oficialiosios statistikos portalas". osp.stat.gov.lt. Retrieved 2024-02-24.
  11. ^ "Rezultatele Recensământului Populației și al Locuințelor 2014 (RPL2014)". Rezultatele Recensământului Populației și al Locuințelor 2014 (RPL2014) (in Romanian). 2013-08-02. Retrieved 2024-02-24.
  12. ^ "National (ethnic) composition of population".
  13. ^ https://unece.org/sites/default/files/2023-09/WS10RizoevENG.pdf
  14. ^ "The Main Results of RA Census 2022 / Statistical Committee of the Republic of Armenia". www.armstat.am. Retrieved 2024-02-24.
  15. ^ Sebastien Peyrouse, " The Russian Minority in Central Asia: Migration, Politics, and Language" Archived 2013-12-06 at the Wayback Machine, p.5. Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, 2008, ISBN 193-35493-27