Dozens of people from the UK have taken up Putin’s offer to abandon the ‘woke’ West and move to Russia

The figures were praised on Russian television and by politicians as proof that the West was rejecting the “liberal agenda.”

“In the West, it looked as if they were simply waiting for Putin’s document to be released… Bored with the liberal agenda – this is how all those who contacted the Russian diplomatic mission explained their decision,” reported the Kremlin-linked Tsargrad TV.

Irina Volk, a major general at the Russian Interior Ministry, said such moves come after the “abolition of traditional moral and family values ​​in American society, as well as the low level of education.”

“I want to thank President Putin”

The move, which is not limited to the UK, comes after Russia allowed an American family to move to Russia. Leo Lionel and Chantel Felice moved to Russia from the United States with their children, aged 16, 14 and 11.

“I would like to personally thank your President Putin for allowing Russia to become a good place for families in this climate of the world,” said Mr. Lionel. We intend to use this opportunity for the good of our family. I feel that I have been placed in a safe place. And this is very important, thank you very much.”

Meanwhile, Arend Feinstra left his home in Ontario, Canada, to move to Russia with his wife and eight children. “We didn’t feel safe with our children there or in the future,” he explained.

“There’s a lot of leftist ideology, LGBTQ, trans, just a lot of things that we don’t agree with that they’re teaching there now. We wanted to move away from that for our kids. But also, economically, agriculture gives you better opportunities. We thought Russia was the best.”

Foreign fighters

There are also concerns that Putin could use the expanded immigration program as a way to recruit foreigners to fight in an invasion of Ukraine.

Russia would certainly have “no qualms” about allowing any of these émigrés to join the army to fight Ukraine, according to Mark Galeoti, executive director at Mayak Intelligence and professor of Eastern European studies at UCL. “It would be a huge PR advantage,” he told The Telegraph.

However, Mr Galeotti believes that Putin’s actions are more of a way to spread propaganda across Russia, aimed at convincing Russians that they have never had it so good.