Russians set 5-year record in number of visits to Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Mongolia

Novaya Gazeta Europe reports that Russians left the country 24.3 million times in 2022, citing FSB data. That figure includes a total of 8.4 million visits to Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Mongolia in 2022. This is 4.7 million more than the number of visits to the same countries in 2021.

The greatest number of people left Russia, either permanently or temporarily, in the third quarter, that is, after mobilization was announced in Russia.

Travel to Mongolia became almost 11 times more frequent than it had been the year before. Visits to the Republic of Georgia went up by 475 percent, to Kazakhstan by 234 percent, and to Tajikistan by 212 percent. Visits to Uzbekistan doubled, and so did the number of Russians who traveled to Israel.

Mediazona points out that the increase in the number of people leaving Russia appears more dramatic because of the COVID-19-related restrictions still in place in 2021.