"We left for Russia for the sake of our children. Everyone knows that modern Europe, and especially Germany, promotes non-traditional values." German citizens leaving Germany to move to Russia: who are these people?
In August 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree "On providing humanitarian assistance to persons who share traditional Russian spiritual and moral values". In accordance with it, foreigners who do not accept the policies of their countries imposing "destructive neoliberal ideological principles" can settle in Russia.
At the end of March this year, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that over 800 permits for temporary residence in Russia had been issued to foreigners who "share the spiritual and moral values" of the country.
"We do not share their values, and that is why we left for Russia"
"We have two children - boys aged four and two. It was because of them that we left for Russia. Everyone knows that modern Europe, and especially Germany, propagates non-traditional values. But we do not share them. And we do not want these so-called "values" "to be imposed on our children," reads the message that German citizen Maxim Zhitnikov sent to Russian President Putin. The address also included a request to grant Russian citizenship, and the Russian media immediately spread the story.
Subsequently, journalist Ilya Shepelin revealed that in Germany Zhitnikov had problems not only with "non-traditional values", but also with his finances. In 2015, the restaurants that were owned by his company were closed due to debts, and in 2021 the company itself was closed due to bankruptcy. The man claims that he had no problems with the laws in Germany, because otherwise they would not have let him leave. There is no clarity on how exactly he left for Russia, but soon after his address to the Russian President Zhitnikov received Russian citizenship.
Maxim Zhitnikov is not the first German citizen to move to Russia. Russian media have reported on similar cases long before the start of the war against Ukraine, and often the migrants did not even have Russian roots.
The village of "disappointed" foreigners
Remo Kirsch has been living in the Nizhny Novgorod region since 2021. Before that, as he himself claims, he was an entrepreneur in Potsdam. The man explained to the media that he left for Russia because of disagreement with Germany's policy towards refugees and members of the LGBTI community, as well as because of the country's behavior on the international stage.
Although he moved to Russia even before the start of the war against Ukraine, the Russian media has only begun to write about him particularly intensively in the last few years. Remo Kirsch and his wife Birgit do not speak Russian, but in March 2024 they received Russian citizenship by decree of President Putin, with the governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region interceding specifically for them. Three months later, Kirsch became an advisor to the regional governor on issues related to the resettlement of foreign specialists.
Kirsch is active in German on social networks. There, he usually either criticizes the West or talks about his life in the Nizhny Novgorod region. Now his family is building a village there for "disappointed" emigrants from Western countries.
It is not entirely clear how Kirsch makes a living in Russia, but on social networks he regularly posts advertisements for an agency that helps foreigners move to Russia.
In the Russian taiga
Wolf Seebach, who was born in the province of Brandenburg, has been living in the taiga in the Krasnoyarsk Territory since the end of 2016. He does not talk about politics, but he declared to local media: "I am a person of nature. Nature here makes me happier than there, in Europe." His statements make it clear that before moving to Russia, the man lived in Canada and Sweden, and that he ran a construction company.
On social networks, Ulf Seebach is called "Siberian Wolf", and his publications are mainly devoted to life in the Russian taiga. In the new place, Ulf Seebach has opened a tourist base where you can spend the night at relatively low prices.
"Escape" from Germany to the Kaluga Region
André Griesbach's story received wide coverage in the Russian media in 2015 and 2016 - after his family's so-called "escape" from Germany. He left for Russia with his wife, two daughters and four grandchildren. Upon arrival, the family applied for political asylum: Andre feared that because they disagreed with German politics, the authorities would take their children away. Initially, the Russian migration authorities did not find this argument convincing - the "refugees" from Germany received several consecutive refusals before they were granted asylum in 2019.
Since then, the Griesbach family has not been written about very often. They have settled in the city of Maloyaroslavets, not far from Kaluga, and have also started blogging about their life in Russia. It is clear from it that they have immersed themselves deeply in Russian reality: they regularly speak out on political issues and participate in pro-government and pro-military activities. For example, they publish photos of themselves knitting camouflage nets for the military together with local people. They also share publications of the German far-right party "Free Saxony", which advocates radical positions.
Although the blog mentions that Andre is working, there are constant appeals to subscribers to provide financial assistance to the family.