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Russia is floating a plan to build a village for conservative Americans who want to move to a ‘Christian country’ and are tired of liberal ideology in the US

on May 16, 2023

© Irina Motina/Xinhua via Getty Images Veterans salute during a military parade to mark the 78th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory in the Great Patriotic War in St. Petersburg, Russia, on May 9, 2023 Irina Motina/Xinhua via Getty Images
 

  • Russia is building a village for US expats who are tired of liberal ideology, a lawyer told state media.
  • The project is approved, and slated to house some 200 American and Canadian families, he said.
  • Russia has in recent years sought to position itself as a bastion for “traditional” moral values.

Russia is floating an idea to build a village for hundreds of American and Canadian families who want to run away from the cultural climate in North America.

The village, slated for construction in Moscow’s suburbs in 2024, is meant for conservative families who want to “emigrate for ideological reasons,” said immigration lawyer Timur Beslangurov on Thursday, according to RIA Novosti.

Around 200 families have expressed interest in the project, Beslangurov said in a speech at a legal forum in St. Petersburg, the state outlet reported.

Many of these families don’t have Russian roots but are tired of “the inculcation of radical values” in the US and Canada, Beslangurov said.

“Today, they have 70 genders, it is not known what will happen next,” he added, per RIA Novosti. The same rhetoric has been used frequently by Russian Vladimir Putin as US-Russia relations worsened over the last several years. In December 2021, he compared gender nonconformity to the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • Slide 1 of 7: Some of Russia's longtime allies have snubbed the country and Putin since the Ukraine invasion. Once-subservient allies are growing bolder, seeing Russia struggle to subdue a small neighbor. Large powers like China and India are charting an ambivalent path. Russian President Vladimir Putin has not been a popular figure around the world since he invaded Ukraine in February.While he has been outright rejected by Western leaders since it started in February, more interesting is how Russia's longtime allies have responded.Though more subtly, many have shown they are not happy with the war. It has left Russia with only a handful of still-close allies that include the world's pariah states.Here are the ways Putin has been snubbed since the war began:
  • Slide 2 of 7: The president of Tajikistan, a close ally of Russia, seemed to berate Putin during a meeting of central Asian leaders in October.Emomali Rahmon said he wanted more respect from Putin despite his country's size.His remarks followed a theme seen with other post-Soviet nations which felt confident enough to assert themselves in the face of Russia's failures to quickly subdue Ukraine."Yes, we are small nations, we are not 100-200 million, but we have history, culture, we love, we want to be respected," Rahmon said, according to Mail Online.He also complained that smaller nations were "never being treated like strategic partners!""No offense," he said, "but we want to be respected!"Rahmon also told Putin not to treat central Asian countries as if they were still part of the former Soviet Union, the New Voice of Ukraine reported.However, this stopped short of actually condemning the invasion of Ukraine.Tajikistan, which is economically dependent on Russia, has largely stayed quiet about the war but has taken in Russians fleeing the call to fight in Ukraine.Read Full Story
  • Slide 3 of 7: Kazakhstan isn't looking to completely enrage its huge neighbor, traditional ally, and big economic partner, but it has still repeatedly taken a stance against the war.The country's official position is to call for a ceasefire and a diplomatic end to the fighting, its UK ambassador told Insider's Alia Shoaib.And zero officials in the country have expressed support for Putin's war, Foreign Policy noted.Kazakhstan denied Russia's request to send troops to fight at the start of the war, and it  has sent planeloads of humanitarian aid to Ukraine.It has not recognized the Russia-backed, self-proclaimed republicans in Ukraine, with the country's president even refusing to do so in front of Putin.It also says it took in around 200,000 Russians who were fleeing Putin's draft.The EU and Kazakhstan pledged to forge "ever closer" relations at a meeting in Luxembourg in June.
  • Slide 4 of 7: Vladimir Putin met with other leaders at the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a Russian-dominated alliance of post-Soviet nations, in November.It did not go as he planned.Although the nations are supposed to be close allies, with Russia unquestionably the dominant power, Armenia's prime minister used the meeting to repeatedly slight Putin.Nikol Pashinyan first criticized the effectiveness of the alliance in his speech at the start of the summit.He later refused to sign a draft declaration from the summit, and he was seen physically distancing himself from Putin in a photo of all the alliance's leaders together.Pashinyan's complaints were not about Ukraine, and instead center on the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan, in which he accused Putin of doing too little to help.But the brazenness with which he called out Putin showed that smaller countries do not feel cowed by Russia, which is struggling to maintain its reputation as a military superpower.Read Full Story
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  • Slide 5 of 7: Uzbekistan, a former Soviet country with close ties to Russia, has rejected Russia's claims over Ukrainian land.Its foreign minister said in March that the country "recognizes Ukraine's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity" and did not recognize the regions that Russia-backed separatists declared as Republics and Russia then recognized.He said Uzbekistan wants peace, and that the country sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine.Uzbekistan told its citizens that they could not join either side of the war.It also said it would not deport Russians fleeing the draft who arrived in the country.Given the important economic role that Russia plays in Uzbekistan, however, the war is overall mentioned little in the country, Politico noted in October.Citizens who work in Russia and send money home play a large role in Uzbekistan's economy, it noted.Uzbekistan also abstained from UN votes condemning Russia's invasion, in which Russia has found very few countries willing to openly support it.
  • Slide 6 of 7: India joined a G20 summit statement that condemned the war in Ukraine, saying it was "causing immense human suffering and exacerbating existing fragilities in the global economy."The statement noted that "most members" of the group condemned the war, leaving wriggle room for countries like India who are unwilling to fully condemn Russia.(Russia itself is also a G20 member, making the prospect of the whole body condemning the war impossible.)This kind of ambiguity shows the fine balancing act facing nations like India.It has sent Ukraine humanitarian aid, and its prime minister Narendra Modi told Putin at a September summit that "I know that today's era is not the era for war."But India is still buying large amounts of Russian oil, declining to join efforts to boycott Russian energy, and enjoying lower prices as a result.The country is typically both an ally to Russia and the West, and it appears to now be trying to exist in that middle ground and position itself a potential peacemaking force.India helped in efforts to get Russia-blocked grain out of Ukraine, and told Ukraine in October that it was ready to help with peace efforts.
  • Slide 7 of 7: Putin conceded in September that China had concerns about the Ukraine war, telling Chinese President Xi Jinping "We understand your questions and concerns in this regard."He did not go into any detail, leaving observers to wonder what exactly China had said about the war.Xi also criticized Russia's nuclear rhetoric in November and said that the humanitarian situation should be improved.But China hasn't gone away as a key economic backer of Russia either, and hasn't condemned the invasion in general.Like India, China has kept buying cut-price Russian oil.Going further, Xi ordered Chinese officials to create closer economic ties with Russia, The Wall Street Journal reported, countering Western efforts to isolate the Russia financially.
Slide 1 of 7: Some of Russia’s longtime allies have snubbed the country and Putin since the Ukraine invasion. Once-subservient allies are growing bolder, seeing Russia struggle to subdue a small neighbor. Large powers like China and India are charting an ambivalent path. Russian President Vladimir Putin has not been a popular figure around the world since he invaded Ukraine in February.While he has been outright rejected by Western leaders since it started in February, more interesting is how Russia’s longtime allies have responded.Though more subtly, many have shown they are not happy with the war. It has left Russia with only a handful of still-close allies that include the world’s pariah states.Here are the ways Putin has been snubbed since the war began:

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1/7 SLIDES © Aleksey Nikolsky/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images

HOW PUTIN WAS REPEATEDLY SNUBBED BY COUNTRIES HE THOUGHT WERE HIS ALLIES SINCE INVADING UKRAINE

 

  • Some of Russia’s longtime allies have snubbed the country and Putin since the Ukraine invasion.

  • Once-subservient allies are growing bolder, seeing Russia struggle to subdue a small neighbor.

  • Large powers like China and India are charting an ambivalent path.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has not been a popular figure around the world since he invaded Ukraine in February.

While he has been outright rejected by Western leaders since it started in February, more interesting is how Russia’s longtime allies have responded.

Though more subtly, many have shown they are not happy with the war. It has left Russia with only a handful of still-close allies that include the world’s pariah states.

Here are the ways Putin has been snubbed since the war began:

Most of the expats who want to move to the village are Catholics and “strongly believe in the prediction that Russia will remain the only Christian country in the world,” Beslangurov said.

The village project has been greenlit by authorities, and the new settlers will pay for the construction, Beslangurov added, per state media.

Insider could not independently verify Beslangurov’s claims. When contacted by Insider, the lawyer said the project is in the works, but declined to share further details.

The Russian Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment sent outside regular business hours.

Putin has, in recent years, sought to portray Russia as a country that stands for “traditional” moral, social, and religious values.

He signed a decree in September that warned of a “battle for cultural supremacy” on the global stage and cautioned of “the aggressive imposition of neoliberal views by a number of states.”

It said Russia was in a “unique position” to defend and spread conservative views, which the decree called “traditional Russian moral and religious values.”

The village project also comes as Moscow’s war on Ukraine and resulting international sanctions have sullied Russia’s reputation among tourists and expatriates. In February, tourism agencies reported business slumping lower than pre-pandemic levels since the invasion began.

The Federal Security Service, however, claimed on May 3 that more foreigners are entering the country this year. The influx of foreign citizens to Russia increased by 17.6% in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the same time period in 2022, it said.

People from China and Central Asian nations, such as Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, contributed to the most significant increases in trips to Russia, the state agency added.

Source: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/russia-is-floating-a-plan-to-build-a-village-for-conservative-americans-who-want-to-move-to-a-christian-country-and-are-tired-of-liberal-ideology-in-the-us/ar-AA1b5v2l?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=3e70a081707e40e2b14bbc75d6464610&ei=67

 

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