Most of migrants to Russia within a program to assist migration of Russian-speaking population come from Kazakhstan

With its flow of migrants on their way to Russia within the Russia’s program to assist voluntary migration of Russian-speaking population, Kazakhstan is the CIS leader, RIA Novosti reports. “Since the launch of the Program in 2007 Russia has accommodated 26 000 migrants; given the family members, the actual number stands at 44 000, with ¼ of the migrants arriving this year”, RIA Novosti quoted the Federal Migration Service of Russia. “The migrants mainly come from Kazakhstan (26.3%), Uzbekistan (13.7%), Ukraine (12.4%), Moldova (8.3%), Kyrgyzstan (5.6%), Armenia (4.7%), Tajikistan (4.3%) and Turkmenistan (2.4%). The other 22.3% come from other countries. Russians account for 68.5% of the migrants, followed by Ukrainians (7.6%), Armenians (3.4%), Tadjiks (2%), Germans (3.6%), Tatars (3%) and other ethnic groups (11.9%).