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Abstract

Labor migrants constitute the majority of migration flows into the Russian Federa-tion. Over the past two decades, both Russian and international scholars have focused primarily on the integration of ethnically non-Russian migrants into Russian society, whereas the adaptation of forced migrants (predominantly Russians/Russian-speaking populations) from the Central Asian republics in Russia was examined most intensive-ly in the 1990s. Since the mid-2000s, scholarly and policy attention in Russia has shifted increasingly toward the implementation of targets set by the “State Program for Assisting the Voluntary Resettlement to the Russian Federation of Compatriots Living Abroad”.

Drawing on fieldwork data (interviewing) collected in Uzbekistan starting from 2015 and up to 2023, and in different Siberian cities between 2021 and 2023, this presentation examines significance of the various causes of forced ethnic migration at different stages of resettlement to Siberia as well as the identity dynamics and adapta-tion strategies of forced migrants in this region. From 1996 onward, it became a leading destination for the Russian forced migrants due to its transport accessibility to the Cen-tral Asian states and affordable living costs.

Forced migrants became an important source of demographic growth in the Sibe-rian Federal District, while their high levels of education and professional qualifica-tions were in demand. However, despite returning to a culturally familiar environment and despite their knowledge of the Russian language and Russia’s cultural traditions, forced migrants experienced a sort of “acculturative stress” and were perceived be the receiving population as “the other Russians”. In some cases, interaction between this group and the host community was marked by conflict and tension. The origins of these misunderstandings will also be addressed in the presentation.