In Las Heras park, near the center of the city of Buenos Aires, young mothers push baby carriages in the late summer heat while neighbors drink mate in the shade. The scene would be typical of any middle-class neighborhood in a Latin American capital, except for one thing: all mothers speak in Russian.
They have arrived in Argentina mass since the Russian president Vladimir Putin invaded the Ukraine a little over a year ago, and many have traveled more than 10,000 miles, including layovers, with advanced pregnancies. Despite the economic crisis and inflation close to 100%the country serves as a refuge for them from the war, from the increasing repression of dissent at home and from the strict visa restrictions that have arisen against Russians in other parts of the world.
One of the babies strolling through the park is one-month-old Lionel Zuev, whose parents arrived late last year, a few weeks before Argentina’s victory in the soccer World Cup. The baby, who obtained Argentine nationality at birth, was baptized with the name of Lionel Messi as a sign of gratitude to the country that his mother and father intend to make their home. As the parents of an Argentine, they have already been granted residency and can apply for nationality within two years.
The DEA appeared before the court investigating the arrival of pregnant Russians in Argentina
“We hadn’t planned anything before November”, explains Julia Zueva, 34 years old. “She was in a group with different girls who were also pregnant, and they all said ‘we’re going to Argentina.’ I was interested to know why“, account.
More than 22 thousand Russians have entered Argentina since the beginning of 2022, although around 60% of them have already left, according to the National Directorate of Migrations. No information is available about his fate. The largest increase occurred in the fourth quarter of 2022. In January, more than 4,500 Russians arrived, four times more than a year earlier, and in February, a single Ethiopian Airlines flight via Addis Ababa came 33 women in their third trimester of pregnancy.
Gain of “brains”
The influx of Russians, mostly highly skilledcould help Argentina fill the void left by professionals who have moved to Europe andn recent years to escape economic uncertainty. More than 32,800 Argentines arrived in Spain in 2021, the highest number since at least 2008, according to the latest data available from Spain’s National Institute of Statistics.
At the same time, the Russian economy is lagging without talented workers in a brain drain comparable to a mass exodus that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Up to a million people left the country last year.
Though some have since returned, most have settled in countries that have liberal visa regimes, such as parts of the former Soviet Union, the United Arab Emirates, and Southeast Asia. Some have settled in other Latin American countries, such as Brazil, according to the local press.
The exodus may also be emptying Russia of potential opponents of the Putin regime and the war in Ukraine. Most of the more than a dozen Russians in Buenos Aires Bloomberg News spoke to openly criticized the Russian leader. Hundreds of Russians and Ukrainians protested against the war in front of the embassies of both nations in Buenos Aires in February.
“It is the irony of exilesaid José Moya, a history professor who teaches a course on global migration at Barnard College in New York. “By leaving, emigrants strengthen tyrants against those who oppose”.
Looking for a job
Many of the emigrants seem unfazed by the uncertainty of living in a country that has defaulted on its sovereign debt. nine times in its 200-year history. This is partly due to Russia’s own economic turmoil, but also because many of the immigrants have brought with them savings and remote work, so in principle they are protected against high inflation.
Victoria Bogataya, 35, arrived in January and will give birth at the end of this March. She and her husband plan to stay and work in the tourism sector., as they did in their country, in the mountains of the Caucasus, in the south of their country. I love Russiabut it seems that the situation will worsen in the next decade“, it states. “I want to give my daughter all the opportunities she deserves.”
Argentina, the ‘new Miami’: per day, almost 30 Russian pregnant women arrive in the country to have their babies
Mark Boyarsky, 37, freelance photographer, already found a job taking maternity photos of newly arrived Russian mothers. Currently, he is in demand for between three and five photo sessions a week and usually charges in dollars. Boyarsky, transgender, fled Russia with his wife and two children because of a 2020 Russian constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and adoption by trans people. They first went to Nepal before moving to Argentina in September and applying for refugee status.
Others are still thinking what to do, since they left Russia in a hurry and without a plan. Alex Shemiakin, 37, quit his job as an engineer to move in with his wife and avoid the possibility of being recruited to fight in the war. She says that she never wants to go back.
“In my country I had three options: leave, keep my mouth shut and get drafted, or speak out against the war and get thrown in jail, and then sent to war anyway,” said Shemiakin, chatting in English over beer after a night of trivia in Russian at a bar next to the Las Heras Park. “I was tired of my uncle calling me a traitor for opposing the war.”
path traveled
Argentina, once one of the richest countries in the world, enshrined an open immigration policy in its 1853 Constitution and it became a popular destination for Europeans fleeing famine, persecution and war in the early 20th century. These immigrants, many of them literate and skilled workers, settled in Argentina because the salaries were higher than in their country of origin and because there were economic opportunities in the vast region of Pampas, a producer of cereals.
Since the 1950s, immigration policies in the United States and Europe have been increasingly restrictive, but Argentina has remained relatively accessibleaccording to Benjamin Bryce, associate professor of history at the University of British Columbia, who specializes in migration in the Latin American country.
After interviewing 350 Russian pregnant women, the Government reported a mafia organization to Justice
Russians who do not plan to have a baby they can enter the country on a three-month tourist visa and then apply for a student or digital nomad visa while they are in the country. The government has welcomed Russians who plan to stay, while opening an investigation into those who give birth just because of their passports and then leave.
Although, thanks to air transport, traveling from Europe is easier than for previous generations, the sanctions have added new obstacles. Direct flights from Russia to most European countries are no longer an option, so many emigrants arrive in Buenos Aires via circuitous routes involving multiple layovers. The fastest routes, via Istanbul, Addis Ababa and Dubai, cost more than US$1,500 for a one-way ticket.
Restrictions imposed on Russian banks have made credit and debit cards unusable abroad, leaving no choice but to take as much cash as possible on the trip and then transfer savings and earnings via cryptocurrency or transfer services through bank accounts in the former Soviet republics. ANDAvoiding normal channels has its advantages, as it allows newcomers to bypass Argentina’s capital controls and receive pesos at a parallel exchange rate that almost doubles the official one.
Russian pregnant women: the response of the Russian Embassy to Migrations for the figure of “false tourist”
A small industry has been created to take advantage of the growing demand for information on relocation to Argentina. In February, after a police investigation, a criminal group that provided false documents to the Russians was dismantledbut other, more legitimate organizations also offer advice and help dealing with red tape and finding a place to live.
Most people receive and share information through Telegram, a very popular messaging service in Russia. A channel that offers advice on all kinds of topics, from how to find a good hospital to give birth to how to change money in Argentina’s widespread black markethas more than 10,600 subscribers.
Back at the Las Heras park, Russian families enjoy the southern summer strolling among the pink flowers of the drunk sticks. Zueva, the mother of baby Lionel, says many Russians are attracted to Argentina because, half a world away from the conflict in Ukraine, they can live free from judgments about Putin’s aggression.
“In this country, Russians are not rejected, like in the United States, for example,” Zueva said. “No matter where you come from, you can live here like a local.”
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