Between 1901 and 1910, approximately 1.6 million people — including all four of my grandparents, one great-grandmother, and three of my future aunts and uncles — emigrated to the United States from greater Russia. Most were ethnic Jews, Poles and Lithuanians, who left to escape the pogroms against the people of their so-called “races.”

In more recent decades, aside from a surge in the early 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the numbers have decreased and their demographics have changed: the majority of recent Russian arrivals have been better educated, leaving their homeland for political, professional and economic reasons.

But lately, a converse trend has been seen, with Americans, Canadians, Australians, and others — largely politically-conservative farming and working-class families with children — seeking an escape, not from poverty or political persecution, but from what they describe as the evils of a woke society.

Some 1,500 “ideological immigrants,” including 127 Americans, have applied for temporary residence (a necessary prerequisite to eventual citizenship) in Russia in the last year. [Caroline Radnofsky and Griffin Eckstein, NBC News, November 2, 2025.]

I have followed the adventures of one such Canadian family — the Feenstras from Saskatchewan — who have built a thriving farm from scratch in the Nizhny Novgorod region of Russia over nearly two years. And they recently added a guest house on their property in order to welcome the Pulley family from Australia, who work the farm with them. With the eight Feenstra kids and the three Pulley children, they have had their hands full expanding, not only the farm, but a number of side businesses . . . including their social media broadcasts.

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And last July, I reported on an American family — the Huffmans: Derek, a welder and builder, and DeAnna, a teacher and floral designer, who introduced themselves on social media as follows:

“We’re the Huffman family — Americans who moved to Russia 2 months ago! Derek (46) has a background in welding & construction, DeAnna (42) is a former teacher & floral designer, and we’re raising our 3 daughters (12, 11 & 10) while embracing a whole new life, language, and culture.” [Josh Fiallo, Daily Beast, July 18, 2025.]

Now there has been an update on the Huffmans, and sad to say — though not surprisingly — their experience has not been as positive as that of the Feenstras.

Derek, DeAnna and their three daughters were the first family to move to a community planned for English-speakers some 30 miles west of Moscow, which they had read about online. It is operated by a long-term American expatriate and former host on Kremlin-sponsored RT network, Tim Kirby. [Radnofsky and Eckstein, NBC News, op.cit.]

In March, Derek said in a well-scripted video on his family’s YouTube channel:

“President Putin is an amazing leader and he’s done great things for Russia. It’s nothing like you see on the news. [Social media platform X] is the only place where you get real information [about America’s problems].” [Id.]

It appears that the Huffmans were not as financially well-prepared as the Feenstras for the long settling-in period in Russia. They had made the move with the encouragement of, and donations from, some of their YouTube subscribers. But Derek had a hard time finding work in construction or welding, and instead joined the Russian army, both for the money and to expedite the family’s applications for citizenship. On May 26th, he added on YouTube:

“Above and beyond the citizenship, the money, a big part of it for me is about the respect and earning our place here in Russia.” [Id.]

Yeah . . . right. Clearly, the Huffmans failed to do their due diligence before adopting Russia as their new home. Because those promises from Vladimir Putin’s government have notoriously gone unfulfilled, even to native Russians . . . let alone recent immigrants.

Instead of being placed in a unit that would utilize his specific skills as promised, he was sent to the front lines, where even the limited amount of training was useless to him, as it was all conducted in Russian, which he did not speak or understand.

During his six months’ deployment, he was erroneously reported as having been killed in action, but later resurfaced in videos on the family’s YouTube channel in October. In one such film, he said:

“I’m happy that I’m still alive and doing what I can to survive, and be of service to Russia. I’m so thankful to all the Russian people who have reached out and helped my family while I’ve been gone.” [Id.]

It was not clear whether he would be redeployed, or what the future might hold for the family. But they’re alive . . . and possibly wondering whether they should have given more thought to their decision before accepting Putin’s invitation to escape the “destructive neoliberal ideological attitudes” of America. [Id.]

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NBC News has also spoken with another Texas family: Leo and Chantelle Hare — a middle-aged couple with three sons, ages 17, 15 and 12 — who followed their ultra-conservative dream to what sounds more like a nightmare. Leo explained their reason for the move in a video call:

“It was the promise of a country that would not promote the LGBT agenda. We liked the fact that LGBT is basically outlawed here in official ways.” [Id.]

Well, that’s putting it mildly. Russian law strictly prohibits the “promotion of nontraditional sexual relationships,” and the public display of LGBTQ identity, including wearing or posting the rainbow flag on social media.

The Hares said that they relied on far-right commentators and conspiracy theorists Alex Jones and Mike Adams for their news in the U.S., and were disillusioned with American politics after the 2020 election . . . likely meaning that they bought into Donald Trump’s claims that he had actually won. Yet they don’t believe that even his return to power will change the country enough for them to want to return. [Id.]

But their introduction to life in Russia was fraught with problems. As they were en route to Moscow, their initial plan to rent an apartment there fell through, and they were forced to spend the winter on a farm 70 miles outside the city, caring for the animals in exchange for free room and board.

Then their landlord’s son offered them a generous (a big red flag right there!) interest rate if they would invest their $50,000 bankroll in what he described as a car import business. But they received just one interest payment, and then . . . nothing. When the man refused to return their money, they went to the police and filed complaints with the local court, but received no help from regional officials.

To make matters worse, their sons are unhappy with life in Russia, and the two older boys have said they want to return home. They are prohibited from attending school until they are able to pass a language test and are presently being home-schooled, further increasing their sense of isolation.

On the up-side, both parents are now working as English tutors. They have found an apartment in Ivanovo, northeast of Moscow, and say they “are living really comfortably now.” And Leo has admitted it probably “would have been a dealbreaker” if they had known in advance about the school restrictions. [Id.]

One more example of uninformed, inexperienced people failing to do their homework and instead placing their trust in the promises of strangers.

Luckily, Leo says that at least he never considered joining the army in Russia because of his age and safety concerns; and hearing Derek Huffman’s story, he says that Huffman may have “assumed a little too much” about life in the Russian military.

“We assumed a lot, too,” he said. “But we do have a faith in Christ and He is leading us, even though we’ve made mistakes.” [Id.]

Maybe so. But I wonder whether the Christ in whom he so fervently believes would have advised him to move halfway around the world simply to escape people with differing views of sexuality.

Just a thought . . .

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The experiences of the Huffmans, the Hares, and even the Feenstras — who, though certainly doing better than the others, have had their share of difficulties — should provide a cautionary tale for anyone thinking about following in their footsteps. Russia is a dictatorship, led by a vicious, murderous autocrat and his team of corrupt oligarchs. It is a place where the rules change at the whim of one man, and people disappear into the penal system (or the quagmire in Ukraine) for no apparent reason, and often without a trace.

In all honesty, there are also a lot of things going on in the U.S. these days that give me similar cause for concern (for the record, “wokeness” is not one of them); and if I were younger, I might have considered relocating. But rest assured that, if I were to give it serious thought, my list of potential destinations would not include Russia.

But maybe that’s because I have done my research.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
11/5/25