How many RA citizens are there in Russia and how many have received citizenship?

Citing Russian sources, Armenian media reported on November 25th that 17,000 Armenian citizens received Russian passports in 2019.

The source of the information is Izvestia newspaper. They received the data on Russian migration flows from the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The Fact Investigation Platform decided to check whether these data are true, as well as the characteristics of the population flow trends from Armenia to Russia in recent years.

Thus, according to the official statistics of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, 17,082 Armenians received Russian citizenship in the period January-September 2019.

It is noteworthy that the number of Armenians that received Russian citizenship in the same period last year was higher. According to the data of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, in January-September 2018, 19,936 citizens of Armenia became citizens of that country.

How many RA citizens have received a Russian passport in recent years?

As for the annual data, after studying the data of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, we found out that in recent years the record number of RA citizens that received Russian citizenship was in 2018. Over those 12 months, 27,134 Armenians have received Russian citizenship.

For comparison, during the 12 months of 2017, that number was 25,144. In 2016, 22,264 citizens of Armenia received Russian passports, and in 2015 – 18,653.

In fact, from January 2015 to September 2019, a total of 88,013 persons left Armenia and obtained Russian citizenship.

Other indicators:

The Migration Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation also provides other data on citizens of other countries actually residing in that country.

Thus, in 2016 there were 631,746 Armenians registered in Russia by the address of residence, 606,557 in 2017, and 595,718 in 2018.

It is noteworthy that only a small number of them have the right to reside in Russia. In 2016, 65,842 RA citizens were allowed to live in Russia, 66,043 in 2017 and 63,974 in 2018, respectively.

As of 2019, according to the first 9 months of this year, there are 483,928 RA citizens registered in Russia. Only 61,204 of them have the right to reside there.

What do Armenians do in Russia?

The overwhelming majority of those leaving Armenia for Russia leave for work.

209,887 Armenian citizens left for Russia in 2016, 232,247 in 2017 and 207,945 in 2018.

Among those registered by the Migration Service are also those who have left for receiving education. 8786 Armenian citizens left for Russia in 2016, 8321 in 2017 and 9801 in 2018.

During the 3 years of survey most of the Armenian citizens registered in Russia mentioned private activity as the purpose of the visit.

In 2016, 99,251 Armenian citizens left for Russia for private purposes, 89,657 in 2017 and 87,459 in 2018.