ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of elderly care during the Soviet era. It analyses the present situation regarding elderly care, including, challenges related to social services and major issues in the general domain. The chapter explores the situation of migrant workers taking care of the elderly in Russia. It explains issue of care migration that has been the focus of significant international research. The chapter discusses how the problems regarding elderly care in today's Russia are connected to the issues of migrant labour and female migrant caregivers. It is often women from Central Asia and some other post-Soviet countries who do most of the care work for the elderly, sick, and bed-ridden persons –and these caregivers are often referred to as sidelka in Russian. Comparative care regime research has explored the welfare mix – the specific combination of provision of care by the state, family, and market – for the elderly in the European context.
