The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 resulted in a massive exodus of Ukrainians to Europe but also the emigration of Russian citizens. While attention has primarily been on the flow of Russian migrants to neighbouring countries, intercontinental migrations to regions like South America have been overlooked. This paper sheds light on the growing trend of Russians settling in Brazil. Drawing on a comprehensive dataset of migration statistics and qualitative data from empirical fieldwork conducted between 2019 and 2023 in three Brazilian cities, our analysis reveals that new Russian migrants to Brazil are primarily young, highly skilled and resourceful individuals. Unlike in other regions, family migration with young children is common among recent Russian migrants to Brazil. We show that strategic births ‐ using the birth of children to gain residency and citizenship ‐has become the primary migration channel, forming a new migration system characterised by intensive circulation and turnover between Russia and Brazil. Moreover, while Russian emigration is driven by political reasons, the incorporation of migrants into Brazilian cities is influenced by the relatively privileged economic and legal status of these families. The paper contributes to a deeper understanding of complex migration patterns in the “Global South” by illuminating a geographically unconventional flow.

中文翻译：

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横贯大陆的轨迹：探索俄罗斯战争引起的巴西移民动态


2022 年 2 月，俄罗斯入侵乌克兰，导致大量乌克兰人逃往欧洲，同时也导致俄罗斯公民移居国外。虽然人们的注意力主要集中在俄罗斯移民流向邻国，但流向南美洲等地区的洲际移民却被忽视了。本文揭示了俄罗斯人在巴西定居的增长趋势。根据 2019 年至 2023 年在巴西三个城市进行的实证实地调查的综合移民统计数据集和定性数据，我们的分析表明，前往巴西的新俄罗斯移民主要是年轻、高技能和足智多谋的人。与其他地区不同，带小孩的家庭移民在最近移居巴西的俄罗斯移民中很常见。我们发现，战略生育——利用孩子的出生获得居留权和公民身份——已经成为主要的移民渠道，在俄罗斯和巴西之间形成了以密集循环和周转为特征的新移民体系。此外，虽然俄罗斯移民是由政治原因驱动的，但移民融入巴西城市却受到这些家庭相对特权的经济和法律地位的影响。该论文通过阐明地理上的非常规流动，有助于更深入地了解“全球南方”复杂的移民模式。