Russia has officially stated that last year it issued more than 1,100 visas to foreigners after they professed allegiance to “traditional Russian values.” In 2025, a total of 1,112 people were granted entry visas under a decree issued by President Vladimir Putin, according to Alexei Klimov, the director of the consular section at the Russian Foreign Ministry, cited by the state news agency RIA Novosti on Wednesday.
A Putin decree from 2024 offers “humanitarian support” and entry visas for people from a specified group of countries that “pursue a destructive neoliberal ideological policy that runs counter to traditional Russian spiritual and moral values.” Under the decree, citizens of the affected countries can apply for a residence permit in Russia after entering the country.
168 Germans Have Moved to Russia
The vast majority of these countries are in Europe, but the United States, Japan, South Korea, and New Zealand are also included. In 2025, a total of 168 visas were issued to German citizens, placing them at the top of the list. They were followed by French citizens with 140 and then U.S. citizens with 105 visas.
Among the visa recipients were also citizens from Italy, the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, and Australia. Klimov did not disclose how many of them remained in Russia.
Putin had recently spoken positively about the program. “In several countries, unfortunately, there are attempts to abolish traditional family values,” he said at an awards ceremony for the preservation of so-called family values. “And we will support those who come to Russia because of this pressure to live here, to work here, and to raise their children.”
Putin has long branded anything that does not fit his interpretation of “traditional family values” as un-Russian — a stance that particularly targets queer people. He views their acceptance as a sign of Western decadence.
Since the start of Russia’s offensive in Ukraine in 2022, Moscow has intensified its campaign against the West’s so-called “harmful ideology.” Toward the end of 2022, the law against so-called “LGBT propaganda” was tightened (TheColu.mn reported).
Reality for Emigrants: Off to the Front
Among those who emigrated was the Christian Huffman family from Texas, who cited in part the presence of LGBTQ-themed education in U.S. schools as a reason to relocate. The couple moved with their three children to a suburb near Moscow. But they were not prepared for what came next: 46-year-old Derek Huffman was immediately drafted into military service. He spoke little Russian and had no prior military experience, and he had been promised he would not be sent to war.
The reality proved otherwise: after only about three weeks of basic training, his unit of foreign “volunteers” was suddenly deployed toward the Ukrainian front. His wife DeAnna posted an emotional (later deleted) video on social media, pleading for prayers and saying her husband felt as if he were being sacrificed to the wolves. Despite the dramatic beginning, Derek survived the initial deployments. (AFP)
