Number of Russians trying to emigrate to the United States is at a record high
When pollsters ask Russians if they like the United States, the answer is a resounding nyet. In a survey released this week by the independent Levada Center polling group in Moscow, 71 percent said the U.S. played "a negative role in the world," up from 50 percent who held that view two years ago.
But the number of Russians trying to emigrate to the U.S. has never been higher. The State Department says Russian applications for the U.S. green-card lottery hit an all-time high of 265,086 this year, even though only about 4,000 of 100,000 slots in the drawing were set aside for Russians.
Separately, State Department data show that some 245,638 Russians last year got visas allowing them to work or study temporarily in the U.S. That's more than double the number a decade ago, and Russia's population, estimated at 143 million, hasn't increased since then, according to the World Bank and other sources. An additional 3,622 Russians were allowed to settle permanently in the U.S. last year for familial or other reasons, including 56 who were given visas after agreeing to invest at least $500,000 in job-creating businesses.
"People I spoke to a few years back, who were happy with Moscow, are now looking for an exit strategy," said Marina Fooksman, an immigration lawyer in New York who emigrated to the U.S. from the former Soviet Union. As the economy sputters and President Vladimir Putin shakes up his circle of favored business people, wealthy Russians increasingly see the U.S. as a safe place to "park their money, maybe park their spouses and children," Fooksman said. Less wealthy Russians simply want to earn more money, she said—for example, by applying for U.S. visa programs targeting skilled professionals.
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Russia's increasing isolation and Putin's crackdown on political opposition and the news media also figure in the exodus. "Kremlin policy is forcing the educated class to choose: Either line up under the banner of war with the West or leave," Alexander Morozov, a Moscow political scientist who recently moved to Germany, told Bloomberg News last month.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/russians-hate-u-much-why-060003743.html
In other words, it seems Russians who have money or the brains are looking to get out.
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