Unofficially, that figure is closer to five million, admits Federal Migration Service chief, Tatyana Regent. Only a minority register with the migration authorities. The rest resettle independently. Most moved to escape armed conflict, human rights violations, environmental problems, economic crisis, or the desire of certain groups to return to countries which they see as their original homeland. And 160,000 people are seeking to leave the Semipalatinsk region in Kazakhstan, which was the former Soviet Union's main nuclear weapons test site.
Regent describes the situation in Kazakhstan as ''difficult''.
She explains that, because there is no agreement on voluntary migration between the two countries, people leaving Kazakhstan for Russia usually have to leave their money and property behind. Last year a total of 581,000 people immigrated to Russia including 145,000 from Kazakhstan who were citizens of Kazakhstan. Of the 120,000 who applied to the Federal Migration Service in 1997, 45.5 percent came from Kazakhstan. However, the influx is slo wing. The reasons for moving are mostly economic but the gradual closure of Russian- language schools is also a factor,'' says Regent.