Russia's young people want out
According to a survey conducted by pollster Levada, 53 percent of 18 to 24-year-olds in Russia want to emigrate. That's a record figure for the last ten years: in 2014, only 22 percent of the age group expressed this wish. What is behind this desire to leave: the economic situation, the political regime - or entirely different reasons?
An indictment of the government
Andrey Nechaev, minister of the economy under Boris Yeltsin, blames Putin's system for the trend in a blog post published by newsru.com:
“This was a vote about confidence in the policies of the president and the government. Young people don't want to live in present-day Russia. According to the survey the main reasons behind their desire to emigrate are not political but have more to do with wanting a better future for their children and higher quality health care and education abroad. But isn't the lack of a future for your children in your home country an indictment of that country's state policy? And 40 percent cited the economic situation and 33 percent the political situation as a reason for their desire to leave. Is there any need for further proof that the policies of the current leadership lead to a dead end?”
Out in the big wide world with Instagram English
In a conversation broadcast by Echo of Moscow, journalist Anton Krasovski says there's more than political factors behind the desire to emigrate:
“It's not so much down to 'bloody Putin' but the fact that the means of communication have changed. Ten years ago there was no Facebook and no proper social networks. No instagram and nothing like Tiktok. People communicated differently and within their language group. All that has changed: the people in the age group we're talking about here have much more freedom today in Russia and speak and write in English everywhere. Computer games have played a major role in making Russian children speak and think English. On top of that there are films and programmes that they watch on a daily basis. As a result a larger proportion of today's young people see themselves as global citizens.”