ABSTRACT
This chapter examines changes in migration influenced by the collapse of the Soviet Union and by developments unfolding during the emergence of the new republics. Migration is one of the most dynamic ways populations can react to changing socioeconomic situations. New economic realities have generated some types of migration that are widespread in the world at large but were alien to the Soviet Union, that is, short-term labor migrations, shuttle trade, and other types of commerce-related migrations. The population responded to the worsening socioeconomic situation and the breakup of the USSR by cutting back on migration. In 1996, the total migration turnover Russian migrants reached a record low of 6.7 million people. The sharp asymmetry of the migration exchange between Russia and other post-Soviet republics indicates that tension still exists within the post-Soviet space. In 1995, trends changed again: Incoming migration to Russia began to abate, so that in 1996, it was only half what it had been in 1994.
