ABSTRACT
In this chapter a broad-brush picture of the press debate on current migratory processes in Russia is presented in order to provide the peculiar context of this issue in the post-Soviet environment. It will be suggested that the media debate on the issue of refugees and forced migrants constitutes a central component of the discussion on post-Soviet Russian foreign policy and on the identity of post-Soviet Russia per se. This discussion differs significantly from debates in other Western European societies which focus on immigration policy, human rights issues or the welfare burden refugees place on the receiver state. In contrast, coverage of forced migration and refugee issues in contemporary Russia takes place within the wider debate about the relationship between Russia and her ‘near abroad’ as seen through the prism of the rights of the Russian diaspora. The period of the press review described in this chapter-June to November 1994-epitomizes this approach as it was in this period that the Russian government began to ‘talk tough’ on the defence of the Russian-speaking population in the ‘near abroad’ (Zevelev 1996).
