‘We’re unpacking our suitcases’: the American farmer known as Russia’s ‘Merry Milkman’ says he isn’t being deported after all
Justus Walker, a U.S. citizen and farmer in Russia known as “The Merry Milkman,” said his family is not being deported from the country.
Walker said he had an appointment at the migration service, where officials told him there were no grounds for deportation.
“This is some kind of misunderstanding, a mix-up. So, actually, here’s the news. As of today, we’re heading home … We’re going home, everything’s fine. We’re unpacking our suitcases, and life goes on,” Walker told Russian state media outlet RT on August 10.
He said his family plans to apply for Russian citizenship — he already holds a Russian passport himself.
Walker said on August 7 that he and his family were about to be deported from Russia, after receiving a phone call informing him that his residence permit would be revoked.
Justus Walker first came to Russia with his parents at age 11. In 2000, his parents returned to the U.S., and Walker came back to Russia. A few years later, he took up farming and now lives on his farm in Altai Krai.
Walker became known in Russia in 2014, after a segment on the television news program “Vesti” about the country’s ban on food imports. Laughing, Walker told reporters at the time, “Why, why, because there won’t be your Italian cheese.”
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