Britons have already taken up Vladimir Putin’s offer to escape the progressive West and move to Russia in search of its traditional values, reports in the country say.
Moscow has said 17 people have already contacted Russian diplomats in Britain to request details of Putin’s fast-track residency permits.
This comes after Putin changed immigration laws to tempt Westerners to embrace his dictatorship.
The aim is to save them from the “destructive neoliberal ideological attitudes” of the West.
Putin believes he is offering “humanitarian aid” to people “who share traditional Russian spiritual and moral values.”
Americans Leo Lionel and Chantel Felice Haer have already moved to Russia with their children, aged 16, 14 and 11.
Putin has rewritten immigration laws in a new decree to tempt Westerners to embrace his dictatorship.
Canadian Arend Feinstra and his wife (pictured) left the Canadian province of Ontario and moved to Russia with their eight children to start farming there.
The 17 submitted their applications within 10 days of Putin’s announcement via Russia’s consulate general in Edinburgh, according to the Kremlin-run Mash media outlet.
There is no specific figure for the Russian embassy in London yet.
“In the West it seemed like they were just waiting for the document (from Putin) to appear: in the first 10 days alone, 17 citizens of Foggy Albion (Great Britain) wanted to move in with us,” Kremlin-loyal Tsargrad TV reported.
“Tired of the liberal agenda: this is how all those who came into contact with the Russian diplomatic mission explained their decision.”
Putin is scrapping immigration quotas and the need for language tests for “anti-worker” migrants seeking refuge in Russia.
However, it is unclear whether the men accepted by Russia could later end up being pressed into fighting in Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Russia paved the way for the new plan by allowing entry to Americans Leo Lionel and Chantel Felice Haer along with their children, aged 16, 14 and 11.
“I personally want to thank President Putin for allowing Russia to become a good place for families in this global climate,” he said.
‘We intend to take advantage of this opportunity to benefit our family.
“I feel like I’ve been put in a security arch. And that’s very important. Thank you very much.”
The 17 submitted their applications within ten days of Putin’s announcement via Russia’s consulate general in Edinburgh (pictured), according to Kremlin-run media outlet Mash.
“I just want to say that I feel very honored,” his wife said.
“I feel like I just married Russia and I look forward to building a future here with my family.”
Major General Irina Volk of the Russian Interior Ministry said: “The desire to move to Russia for permanent residence arose against the backdrop of the abolition of traditional moral and family values in American society, as well as the low level of education.”
Another couple, Canadian Arend Feinstra and his wife, left the Canadian province of Ontario and moved to Russia with their eight children.
“We didn’t feel safe with our children there or in the future,” she said.
‘There is a lot of left-wing ideology, LGBTQ, trans, a lot of things that we don’t agree with what they teach there now.
‘We wanted to get away from that for our children.
“But also for economic reasons, agriculture has better opportunities. We thought Russia was the best option.”
Pro-Putin MP Maria Butina told Russians that there was a “liberal dictatorship” in the West.
“It is important to note that the people of these countries are not our enemies, but their governments, which have gone mad, are insane and are imposing these policies,” he said.
Pictured: Major General Irina Volk, spokeswoman for the Russian Interior Ministry
‘It has reached a point where, for example in Germany, if your child goes to school and says that he does not support same-sex unions, he is taken away and sent to re-education.’
He said that many Westerners “would like to connect their future with Russia precisely because we have the opportunity to have freedom and a traditional way of life.”
‘And these are not necessarily farmers, many of them are representatives of academic circles, professors, doctors, teachers.
‘These are qualified people who decide to sell everything, they come to Russia precisely because they have a sufficient level of intellectual development, education and spiritual development to understand that if you stay in your countries, you can lose your children, lose your family.’
Butina, 35, had previously been jailed in the United States on espionage charges of “conspiring to work for a foreign government.”
Currently a member of parliament for the pro-Putin United Russia party, she was arrested in the United States in July 2018 and sentenced to 18 months in prison.
He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to act as a foreign agent.
Butina was convicted of trying to infiltrate conservative groups in the United States, including the National Rifle Association.
She was deported to Russia in October 2019 after her sentence was slightly reduced for good behavior.