Over 100,000 Russian Citizens Move To Live In Armenia In 2022 - Economy Minister

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th March, 2023) Around 110,000 Russians have moved to Armenia for permanent residence in 2022 amid the Ukraine conflict and the partial mobilization in their homeland, Armenian Economy Minister Vahan Kerobyan said on Thursday.

"Clean relocation stood at approximately 108,000-110,000 citizens in 2022. That is how many Russians came to Armenia and stayed permanently. In addition, about 2,500 legal entities with Russian participants opened last year, apart from 4,000 businesses registered in the form of individual entrepreneurs," Kerobyan told Russian newspaper Vedomosti.

The minister added that on average, Russians open 500 businesses in Armenia per year.

"The companies are very diverse in terms of scale, in some of them staff consists of 600-700 employees, in others there is one person working.

The additional inflow of customer funds into the Armenian banking system was $3 billion last year," Kerobyan said.

These factors accounted for about a quarter of Armenia's GDP growth, that is over 3% out of 12.6%, the minister specified.

After the start of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine last February and the declaration of the subsequent partial mobilization in the country in September, many Russian citizens, including highly-qualified personnel, have migrated to foreign countries, primarily Georgia, Armenia, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.