Specifics of USSR era migrants’ adaptation in the modern Russian Federation

Abstrakt

The task of this paper is a quantitative assessment of the possible fact and speed of assimilation of Ukrainian migrants in the modern Russian Federation according to the data of all-Russian censuses of 2002 and 2010. In all regions of the Russian Federation, and even in regions where the absolute number of the population has increased, we note the decrease in the number of Ukrainians significantly exceeded the overall rate of depopulation. The share of the decrease in the number of Ukrainians, which goes beyond the general rate of depopulation in a relevant region, can characterize the rate of assimilation of Ukrainian migrants in Russia. Thus, the annual rate of assimilation of Ukrainian migrants in the Russian Federation varies in different regions from 2.38% to 6.25%. The average rate of Ukrainian migrants’ assimilation is estimated for regions of the Russian Federation as 3.78% per year. Some assumptions are made about the main factors of such an unexpectedly rapid rate of peaceful assimilation of Ukrainians. Related factors include the tradition of Russians’ scornful attitude towards foreigners and “younger brothers” (a terms used to refer to Ukrainians); the Russian Federation’s disregard towards the cultural and educational needs of national minorities that do not have their territorial administrative formations on the territory of the Russian Federation; as well as a disregard of Ukrainian society and the Ukrainian state towards Ukrainians living on the territory of the Russian Federation.