Moscow wants to rescue students abroad from ‘Russophobic’ reeducation in Britain

Rossotrudnichestvo (the agency with maybe the longest name in the Russian state: “for CIS affairs, compatriots living abroad, and international humanitarian cooperation”) wants to do its part to reduce the Western world’s “Russophobic” influence on Russia’s best and brightest, and so it’s launching a project as awkwardly named as itself: “Highly Likely Welcome Back or It’s Time to Come Home!”

According to the newspaper Kommersant, the program targets Russians studying abroad (but mainly in the UK) with invitations to return home and enroll at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO). Students who are already wrapping up their education abroad would apparently get fixed up with jobs, for example, in Russia’s scenic Far East. In 2017, roughly 60,000 Russians attended institutions of higher education abroad.