ABSTRACT
Legal emigration from the Soviet Union was mostly confined to Jews heading for Israel, or Germans from the Volga region going to West Germany. It was considered unthinkable and unpatriotic for Russians to leave their Motherland and it was made very difficult for them to do so. After the collapse of the USSR the situation changed: mass emigration became a threat to the economic well-being of the country as the best qualified and educated left in their thousands. The situation has now stabilised, though many are still leaving in search of a better life and greater opportunities. A far more serious problem nowadays is immigration: Russia is being flooded by refugees. Among them are ethnic minorities trying to escape discrimination or Russians who suddenly find themselves unwelcome and without a job in the new independent republics.
