Facts and FAQs about Russia

1. You have lived outside Russia and chose to go back, where did you live when you were away and why did you go back?

         Yes, I lived in New Zealand for 6 years as an immigrant. And I moved back to Russia in 2008, it was my deeply considered decision. To understand my reasons please refer to my personal story here https://ecominded.net/your-guide-and-translator 

2. In Russia can you own land?

         Yes, all Russian citizens can purchase and own residential and agricultural land in Russia. Residential land is also available for purchase by foreigners. Please check my article on the topic: https://ecominded.net/buy-land-russia

3. Do you pick your own occupation?  What are wages like there, for example if you work in a macdonalds or are a plumber?

         Yes, every Russian citizen is free to choose any occupation according to their prefferencies and interests. Everage wage in McDonalds: 25000 - 30000 Rubles. Everage wave of a plumber: 55000 Rubles. Everage wage of IT specialist: 100000 - 150000 Rubles. And by the way, there is a high demand for IT specialists in Russia, so foreign IT specialists, programmers, web-developers may get Russian permanent residency and Russian citizenship under a simplified procedure.

4. Is education free?

         School education is free, every school student can complete 9 years (secondary) or 11 years (high school) education program for free. University students have to pay for their education, however most of the Universities offer 10 to 20% of their places for free. 

5. Do schools teach math, history, reading and arts?  Do they teach how to live, like grow things, build things and function as community?  Do the kids get taught about sex and homosexuality?  

         In general, Russian schools teach 2 mandatory exam subjects: math and Russian language, and a number of other subjects like: history (world history and history of Russia), geography, literature, chemistry, physics, technology, biology, foreign language, social science, arts, music, physical culture. All these subjects are compulsory to study but every student can select only 2 of them to pass exams at graduation. The schools don't teach how to grow plants. However social science provide some basic knowledge about family, community living, finances etc. In the course of biology the students get some basic knowledge about differency of man's and woman's body and sexual reproduction features of different spieces including humans. However the schools don't teach about homosexuality (I guess, there is no need in it - there is a lot of information on the topic in the Internet).

6. Do you feel safe in Russia?  Do government agencies listen to calls, steal bank accounts and arrest without warrant?

         Personally, I feel myself absolutely safe in Russia. And I can tell the same for all my relatives, friends and neighbours. They feel safe and they are quite happy living in Russia. I have had no people around me who would have any problems with the government agencies like stolen bank accounts or arrest without warrant. 
         As for listening to calls, well, the police and Federal Security service and other special agencies do have this technical opportunity to listen to calls of every person in Russia. However you should think reasonable here and do some math, like: how many technicians should work in a police special department to listen to calls of all adult people in a 1 million population city? Considering that 1 technician can listen to no more than 2-3 people at once. 100000? 50000 technicians? According to one of my friends who used to work in a police fiscal service for a city with 350000 population this service has had no more than 10 technicians and they were overburdened working with criminal suspects. They just don't have time to listen to calls of usual people who are not related to any criminal issues.   

7. Is Russia at war with Ukraine or is it the US instigating trouble? 

         When I get a question like this, I immediately have a counter question: When the United States bombed Yugoslavia and invaded Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, etc, etc... (the list of US invasions within the recent century actually goes on and on), were they at war with these countries? The answer is: NO. US never declared war with the countries they invaded. They said all these countries were the threat to US national security.
         So getting back to your question, neither Russia nor Ukraine declared war with each other. After the coup d'etat with strong nazi background took place in Ukraine in 2014, part of Ukrainian population living in Donetsk and Lugansk regions, did not agree with it and were declared "terrorists" by the new Ukrainian authorities. Soon after that Ukrainian nazi actually started war against their own people, living in Donetsk and Lugansk regions who had to protect themselves with weapons in their hands. Within 8 years (since 2014) Russia tried hard to resolve peacefully the war conflict between Ukraine and Donetsk and Lugansk regions. And only after all peace agreements were severely violated by Ukraine, on February 24th, 2022 V. Putin declared special operation in Ukraine with the purpose to protect people living in Donetsk and Lugansk regions that have been suffering from Ukrainian fascist genocide for 8 years. Another purpose of special operation is elimination of fascist regime and fascist organisations in Ukraine. Fascist regime in Ukraine - here is the real threat to national security of Russian Federation.

         For more information about cost of living in Russia please read this article: https://ecominded.net/moving-to-russia

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