According to the independent Moscow Times, President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree allowing foreign citizens and stateless individuals to apply for temporary residency in the country if they share “traditional Russian spiritual and moral values,” even in cases when a person does not speak Russian.
The decree states that those who oppose the “destructive neoliberal ideological agenda” in their home country can seek “humanitarian support” from the Russian authorities by applying for a temporary residence permit.
It also tasks the government and Foreign Ministry with creating a list of countries Moscow considers to be “pursuing a destructive neoliberal agenda” within 30 days.
People applying for temporary residence status in Russia according to the new “humanitarian” scheme would not need to show proof of Russian language proficiency or knowledge of Russian history and the country’s laws.
Last year, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported that authorities would be constructing a village outside Moscow for conservative-minded Americans and Canadians.
It claimed that “around 200 families” wish to emigrate to Russia for “ideological reasons.”
“The reason is propaganda of radical values: today they have 70 genders, and who knows what will come next,” RIA Novosti quoted Timur Beslangurov, a migration lawyer at Moscow’s VISTA Foreign Business Support, as saying.
