An idea was floated at a Moscow forum by an Italian student of what she calls “impatriation,” and is supported by President Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin has supported a proposal to simplify the process of moving to Russia for immigrants who share the traditional values that are nurtured and protected in the country.
”It’s a good idea to focus on traditional moral values when welcoming people who want to live here,” Putin said, during his appearance at the ‘Strong Ideas for a New Time’ forum in Moscow on Tuesday. However, he wondered if there was a way to correctly establish what moral code a person really follows.
The president stressed that Russia has recently been seeing “more and more supporters around the globe” because of, among other things, its policy of protecting traditional values. It has turned out that such values are dear not only to Russians but to “healthy people” everywhere, including in the West, he remarked.
The proposal to streamline the naturalization process for applicants who share Russian traditional values, to move there and to obtain citizenship, came from Irene Cecchini, an Italian student at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO). “This would be beneficial for Russia, because these people would bring new skills, they would be entrepreneurs,” whose input would also help increase the population and boost the economy, the student reasoned, addressing Putin in Russian.
Cecchini suggested that a new term, “impatriation,” should be introduced to describe “moving to a permanent place of residence in Russia on the basis of cultural, traditional and family values.” The Italian, who has been studying at MGIMO for four years and has learned Russian from scratch, complained to the president that her attempts to get a Russian passport have so far been in vain.