Window on Eurasia

Moscow is Very Far Away for Residents of Russia’s Far East

Paul Goble

Vienna, June 21, 2006 – Fewer than one in five residents of the Russian Federation’s Siberian and Far Eastern Federal Districts has visited Moscow or St. Petersburg even once during the last decade, a reflection of the enormous distances and daunting difficulties involved in making
such a trip.

Those living closer to the capital, a poll conducted this month by the
All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM) found, were
more likely to have made such a visit, but even over all, more than
half of all Russians – some 56 percent – had not visited either capital
during the last ten years

[http://www.wciom.ru/], June 20, 2006.

This survey of 1600 Russians living in 46 oblasts, krays and republics
across the country suggested that citizens of the Russian Federation
travel more than they did in Soviet times but significantly less than
many media reports about people flooding the major cities or travelling
abroad might suggest.

According to the poll, 37 percent of Russians had not left their own
place of residence over the last three years, while during that same
period, 30 percent more had visited the regional center, 15 percent had
gone to Moscow, six percent to St. Petersburg, and five percent to
countries beyond the borders of what was the USSR.

While small percentages of people would like to move – eight percent
of the total said they would like to live in Moscow, six percent in St.
Petersburg, eight percent in another city of Russia, and five percent
abroad – two out of three – 67 percent – said they “would like
to live just where they do now.”

Not surprisingly, younger, more educated and economically better off
people have travelled more and are more inclined to want to change
their place of residence than those who are older, less schooled or poorer.

In addition, the VTsIOM survey asked where people obtained information
about life in other parts of the country. An overwhelmingly majority
–93 percent – said they got it from the central media, inclduing
television, radio and print publications. Forty-two percent indicated
that they obtained it from regional and local media outlets.

One quarter of the sample said they relied on the opinons of friends
and relatives, not surprising given that a third of the sample – the
largest group in this category – said that they travelled primarily
to visit family and friends. And only nine percent said that they relied
on personal observations.

Three percent said they relied on the foreign media and seven percent
on the Internet. The share of those who use the Internet for this purpose
was one of the indices that fell markedly from the youngest to the
oldest age cohorts: Among those aged 18 to 24, 19 percent used the
Internet this way. Among those over 60, less than one percent did.