Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the Russian Shared Values visa and who is it for?
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Hei, mä lähden nyt oikeasti. Mä oon lomalla.
Lupaukset katoavat nopeasti. Minä, luonto, en usko lupauksiin.
Uskon siihen, mikä kestää.
What if I told you there was a promised land of incredible landscapes, rich history and untapped opportunity? A country just waiting to roll out the red carpet to Westerners, frustrated with high income taxes, dysfunctional politics and creaking healthcare systems. And what if I told you that country is Russia?
In September 2024, President Vladimir Putin introduced the Russian Shared Values Visa for citizens of 47 countries it considers unfriendly.
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Chapter 2: What motivates Westerners to move to Russia?
It's aimed at people who say they align with Russia's traditional spiritual and moral values, and it's become known as the Anti-Woke Visa. Successful applicants are eligible for up to three years of temporary residency without needing to speak Russian or pass a Russian history or law test, as long as they reject what the visa calls the destructive neoliberal ideology of their own country.
I'm Dan Hardoon, and for the documentary from the BBC World Service, I've been following the journeys of Westerners uprooting their lives to move to Russia. I'm wedded to these people. I love this country.
Russia feels very hopeful. Oh my gosh, as I said, that the sun came out.
I've been finding out what life is really like once they arrive and whether it lives up to the Russian dream being promoted on social media.
My journey did not turn out how I expected.
If you move into another country for political reasons, maybe just fix your own country first.
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Chapter 3: How do newcomers perceive life in Russia compared to their expectations?
Russia isn't some utopia. Kerry is a middle-aged woman from Ontario in Canada where she made her money investing in precious metals. She's always been fascinated by Russia and remembers when she first heard about the shared values visa on X, formerly Twitter.
I have not been excited about the direction of Canada for quite some time. Where the money is spent, the priorities, it makes no sense to me. So when Russia, out of nowhere, announced this all new shared values visa, how did I feel? Oh my gosh, I freaked right out. Are you kidding? Yes, please.
When Kerry sends me a voice note, she's just about to begin her new life in Russia, and she's only been there for a few days.
I'm here in Moscow, and there is a calmness here that I just love. I'm guessing that the lack of homeless and the lack of drugs is a big part of it. You don't have to keep looking over your shoulder. You can just let your guard down a bit. It's very safe here. But by and far, the best part about this place is the people. Russians are so friendly.
Kerry's experience is different from the Russia many people have in mind, a country that invaded Ukraine and now faces international sanctions and growing labour shortages. But although she's only just arrived, you can really feel her optimism.
Russia feels very hopeful.
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Chapter 4: What challenges do Western migrants face in Russia?
No matter what I dream up, if I'm willing to put in the hard work, the infrastructure and opportunities exist, that I can pull it off.
Kerry is one of a small but significant number of Westerners who've applied for the Shared Values visa. Russia's Interior Ministry says nearly 3,400 applications have been received as of spring 2026, though the figures are difficult to independently verify. So what's motivating people to move?
Ilya Belobragin is the managing partner of Move to Russia, which helps people relocate under the Shared Values visa.
A lot of comment that we get from our clients is that I don't recognize the community around me anymore. It's potentially flooded with migrants from country that don't share my values. And I don't feel that the government is any way interested in my well-being. the well-being of my children. I feel that the social security is breaking down. The whole place is slowly falling apart.
So I'm looking to relocate to somewhere where it's going to be better. And Russia is one of those choices.
So the visa is based on Russian traditional values. How would you define them?
It's Christian values because Russia is Orthodox Christianity. I think the people that look back to how, for example, the Britain was, let's say, in 1950s, 1940s, or how the United States was, people were hopeful for the future. There was high growth.
It was an opportunity to maintain a so-called traditional family where you had maybe the main breadwinner, such as a man, and then the women could, of course, work if they wanted to.
Of course, many people in Western countries still live in the way Ilya describes.
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Chapter 5: How does the Shared Values visa impact the migration process?
But a small minority feels so disillusioned with life at home, they're willing to gamble everything on a move to Russia. The Shared Values Visa has made it easier to do that. Previously, migrants from the West faced strict quotas and had to qualify through work, family or investment. But how does an applicant prove they're aligned with traditional Russian values?
Well, there's no official interview, but applicants need to sign a document saying that they share these values and fulfil other medical and criminal record checks.
We do speak to every single person who is sending us an application.
Jacob Pinnaker is a businessman who moved from Germany to Russia almost a decade ago and now runs an agency helping foreigners relocate to the city of Nizhny Novgorod in western Russia.
We make sure that the person is really serious on moving to Russia. And very often during this conversation you understand that the person is not prepared for moving at all. because they don't have much information about Russia. They re-telegram YouTube, or they are following influencers, etc.
Online influences are playing an important part in promoting the shared values visa. On social media, you can find dozens of accounts of Westerners who've moved there talking about how brilliant their lives are. Russia is the bomb. Like, when I say the bomb, I mean it's like, pow, wow.
This is by far the safest city I've ever been in.
What many people in the United States wish for their country to be, Russia already is.
make Russia great again, because it's a beautiful country.
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Chapter 6: What are the experiences of families who have moved to Russia?
Philip is in his mid-30s and originally from Essex in the UK. He arrived in Moscow a year ago on the shared values visa. When I speak to him over a video call, his virtual background is a giant image of Moscow's Red Square, the towers of the Kremlin rising over his left shoulder.
It's not this scary place that, you know, how much was portrayed in a lot of sort of Western media outlets, you know, life does go on. Yes, it's, you know, apparent that there are wars and special military operations going on, but it's not such a bad place to live, you know, the Streets are clean, everything works, amazing cuisine and such a vast and diverse country to explore.
Philip's wife is Russian and he took advantage of the shared values visa to be with her when she was refused permission by the UK's Home Office to settle there. So how much of a factor is being anti-woke for him? The whole kind of like woke thing, it wasn't a core decision with me personally, but ultimately the UK is going completely mad with all of this kind of wokeness.
You know, we're about to have a child, you know, we're thinking, you know, do we want our child brought up in a world where they're going to school, being taught there's 200 different genders to choose from? Philip is referring to debates in the UK over gender identity, a person's sense of their own gender and how these topics are discussed in schools.
He also argues that freedom of speech in the UK is under threat, pointing to controversial cases in which people have been arrested over social media posts. It's part of an ongoing discussion over where the line should be drawn between free expression and threatening speech online. People are being locked up for the wrong crimes in the UK.
Well, you've got violent criminals on the streets that aren't getting any jail time. Terrorists, grooming gangs, all of this stuff that we need to take care of, yet they're worried about what people are writing on Facebook. And, you know, I don't think that sort of thing is right. Today, Philip runs a business helping other Westerners relocate to Russia.
But before moving to Moscow, he stood as a candidate to be a member of parliament for the British Conservative Party, which strongly supported Ukraine after Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022. I ask if this gave him pause for thought when deciding whether to move.
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Chapter 7: Is Russia truly a conservative utopia for Western migrants?
I was coming here since 2019. I think I was actually on Russian soil when it all kicked off and when the Russian troops went onto the Ukrainian side. What are my thoughts on it? Look, I don't really get involved in that. I mean, I'm not here as a politician. I'm here to live a nice, quiet life with my family. I run a business.
You've said you don't want to get involved in politics, but by moving to Russia during the war and having a business which promotes it as a destination for people to move to based on political values, isn't that an inherently political position? Well, no, really, because we're not based on those values.
A lot of people we guide towards a shared values visa because it's the easiest way to become a full resident here right now because you bypass things like the language test. But it's not political helping people to move to Russia. Despite Philip's claim that moving to Russia isn't political, it can come with strings attached.
A recent temporary decree means some foreign men, including Westerners aged between 18 and 65, who want to stay in Russia permanently, may need to sign a military or emergency services contract, although there are exemptions and apparent loopholes. There have even been cases of Westerners voluntarily signing up to fight for Russia. You're listening to the documentary from the BBC World Service.
Seuraavaksi potilas 2934.
79% kokee, ettei tule nähdyksi hakiessaan apua terveydenhuollosta. Asioita voidaan tehdä myös toisin. Jokainen ansaitsee tulla nähdyksi terveydenhuollossa. Ihlajalinna.
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Chapter 8: What are the long-term implications of the Shared Values visa?
Ihmisen kokoista huolenpitoa. Tosi hyvän operaattorin, tosi hyvät kesätarjoukset.
Hanki kesätarjouksista uusi puhelin, tabletti tai kuulokkeet. Suuntaa teliakauppaan tai osoitteeseen telia.fi.
Hei, mä lähden nyt oikeesti. Mä oon lomalla. Hei, näitsä kun Marja ja Jussi meni... Shhh, hiljaa. Top secret, you know. Tai siis, niiden salaisuus on herkkukalamestarin kraavilohi. Ruokatorilta. Tai herkkupremiumskaaken. Ja siis, ne on kyllä sairaan hyviä.
Joka kokilla on salaisuutensa. Herkkugrills tuotteet vain valituista HOK Elannon ruokakaupoista ruokatorilta.
This is the documentary from the BBC World Service with me, Dan Hardoon. I'm following the Westerners moving to Putin's Russia on the so-called anti-woke visa. And while some say the decision isn't political, ideology is often at the heart of why they're leaving the West behind. Chantelle Hare moved to Russia from Texas in December 2023 with her husband Leo and their three sons.
Back in America, they ran a carpet cleaning and mobile snack business. The hares are devout Christians who've become increasingly disillusioned with everything from political division in the US to genetically modified food and what they see as the rise of the LGBTQ movement. Chantal remembers clearly when the idea of moving to Russia first occurred to them in late 2022.
My husband is very much into following the political scene and he had been listening to speeches of President Putin for some time. And we had sat around the kitchen and we were listening to one of his speeches. And we really appreciated what he was saying, even to the American people.
Russia is not your enemy and has never had any evil intentions regarding the European countries and the United States. And we know that we have many friends there.
My husband made some comment like, gosh, I wish we had a president like President Putin. Putin for president. And then our younger son, he made a comment. Well, dad, why don't we just move to Russia? And that was the seed that was planted. And it grew from there.
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