On March 12, the first repatriate certificate was issued in Moscow as part of the state program for the voluntary resettlement of compatriots to Russia.

The document was received by a former Latvian citizen, professional mixed martial arts fighter, 44-year-old Konstantin Glukhovs.

A certificate of participation in the state program as a repatriate will allow the man to obtain Russian citizenship within a few months, which he has been seeking for more than a year.

The Institute of Repatriation began operating in Russia on January 1 of this year, when the decree of the President of the Russian Federation on introducing changes to the state program for the voluntary resettlement of compatriots came into force.

According to the document, citizens of the Russian Federation who permanently resided abroad can become repatriates;

people who previously renounced Russian citizenship;

persons who were born or permanently resided on the territory of the RSFSR and previously had USSR citizenship;

persons who have relatives “in a direct ascending line” who were born or lived in the territory of the RSFSR, the Russian Empire or the USSR.

“We immediately belonged here”

Konstantin Glukhovs' family moved to Latvia when his grandfather, a soldier in the Soviet army, was sent to serve in Riga. 

“My father is Russian, my mother has Latvian and Jewish roots.

I was born in Latvia, but I always felt like a Russian person.

As a child, I often traveled to Russia with my grandmother; she was born in pre-war Leningrad and adored this city.

And grandfather is from Stalingrad,” Glukhovs tells RT.

Together with his wife, a native of Ukraine, Konstantin thought about moving to Russia after 2014.

Then, according to him, Russophobic sentiments began to intensify in Latvia and Russian-speaking people there became uncomfortable.

“I know Latvian: I studied in it, took exams at the institute.

But in everyday life I always spoke Russian, and for a long time there were no problems with this in Riga.

But then, more and more often, people began to meet who demonstratively did not want to speak Russian with me, although they knew it perfectly.

My wife, for example, is from Kharkov, she doesn’t speak Latvian at all.

And it was even harder for her in this regard.

And there was a feeling that you were kind of living at home, and they were treating you as if you were a guest,” the interlocutor recalls.

The couple made their final decision to leave Latvia when their daughter was born.

According to Konstantin, he did not want her to be told lies about the “Soviet occupation of Latvia” in educational institutions.

“In Latvia, I still have a bunch of Russian acquaintances, with Russian surnames, who, due to propaganda, believe that Russia is completely evil.

There are many athletes among them, and now I see that they all train under the Latvian and Ukrainian flags, support Ukraine and say how bad Russia is.

Because if they don’t do this, they won’t be given money or allowed to compete,” says Glukhovs.

In 2016, he and his family moved to his wife’s small homeland, Kharkov.

It was not possible for the spouses to settle in Russia at that time: at that time it was difficult to submit documents for relocation, and there was no money for rent.

According to Konstantin, in Kharkov, on the one hand, he spoke fluent Russian, and on the other, he was faced with harsh nationalist ideas about the “exclusiveness and greatness of Ukraine.”

“In 2020, there was a case, for example: a guy came into the gym where I was training, and he had a tattoo of a Nazi swastika on his stomach.

I was just shocked - how is this even possible?”

- says the interlocutor.

After the start of the special operation, Konstantin and his family managed to leave Kharkov for Belgorod.

But even after arriving in Russia, the family was unable to stay here legally - Konstantin was not given a visa.

Then he, his wife and daughter, moved to the Spanish city of Alicante: he had friends there.

But in the kindergarten that Glukhovs’ little daughter attended, children began to be told about LGBT* and gender reassignment, and Konstantin and his wife decided that they did not want to raise their child with such values.

The family returned to Riga.

  • Wedding of Konstantin and Anna in Riga.

    In 2022, the monument to the Liberators of Riga in the background was demolished

  • © Photo from personal archive

Last February, Konstantin arrived in Russia and applied for political asylum.

His wife and daughter received Russian passports under a simplified program within six months, but the man had to fight for Russian citizenship.

Konstantin wrote about his difficulties with naturalization on social networks, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs drew attention to his problem.

The man also contacted the RT project “We Don’t Abandon Our Own,” which helped him with collecting documents.  

“It is important to understand here that this is the first repatriation certificate issued in Moscow,” says project author Maria Butina.

— We are often approached by people who want to connect their destiny with Russia.

Many of them are Russians by origin, who decided to return to their historical homeland or their ancestors.

And thanks to the presidential decree, there is now a simplified procedure that allows you to obtain repatriate status, and then a Russian passport.

I’m very glad that now the whole family has become part of Russia.”

Konstantin says that after moving to his historical homeland, he and his family immediately felt at home here.

“We didn’t have any adjustment or culture shock after moving.

We immediately belonged here.

After all, my wife and I traveled a lot around Europe, and even lived in Asia for several months.

But only in Russia did we finally get the feeling that we were on our native land,” recalls Glukhovs. 

“It’s an honor to receive a Russian passport”

Another participant in the repatriation program to Russia was a 40-year-old Russian army soldier, special operation veteran Ilkhomjon Yuldashev from Tajikistan.

He received repatriate status because he was born on the territory of the Soviet Union.

On March 12 in Moscow he was given a Russian passport.

  • Konstantin Glukhovs and Ilkhomjon Yuldashev at the ceremony of presenting documents in Moscow as part of the state repatriation program

  • © Photo from personal archive

Yuldashev volunteered for the special operation in May last year.

On the front line, he serves as a rifleman - an assistant grenade launcher in a rifle battalion.

During his service, the man was wounded twice, was treated in hospitals and returned to the front line again.

Participated in the battles for the liberation of Artyomovsk and Avdeevka.

“The heads of my unit helped me with participation in the [repatriation] program.

They talked about this opportunity and assisted in collecting documents.

I can’t tell you what a happy day it is for me today.

It’s an honor to receive a Russian passport,” Yuldashev told RT.

The next goal, the interlocutor says, is to renounce Tajik citizenship.

In a few days, Ilkhomjon will again go to the front line.

While he is not making plans for the future, he does not rule out that after the end of the special operation he will remain in the ranks of the Russian army.

And another man dreams of building a house in Moscow and starting a family.

“We are not gods, so it’s impossible to say prematurely how life will turn out.

But I hope that I will get married and have children,” the Russian added.

* LGBT organization is recognized as extremist, its activities are prohibited in Russia.