On Feb. 20, at a forum in Moscow Irene Cecchini – an Italian final-year student at Moscow State Institute of International Relations – urged President Vladimir Putin to streamline “impatriation” for like-minded foreigners. She argued from experience that it is in Russia’s long-term socioeconomic interest to afford non-citizens who identify with its strict moral code a greater sense of permanency and belonging.

By the end of August, Putin had officially signed off on this grassroots initiative, greenlighting the extension of temporary residence permits to those disillusioned with the identity politics and militant wokeism rampant across the West. Last week, the Russian Foreign Ministry came up with a list of predominantly “unfriendly” OECD nations whose passport holders can apply for the “shared values visa (SVV)."

The visa's unique selling point is that unlike European Golden Visa programs or points-based migration into the Commonwealth, the rejection of progressivism takes precedence over materialistic considerations and marketable skills prospective applicants may bring.

That said, embracing conservative ideals is not the only determinant of whether these newcomers will be a net benefit to Russia. Having hemorrhaged much of its economically active white-collar population since the war began, Russia is hoping to offset the resultant fiscal shortfall by welcoming expatriate taxpayers. Moscow does not have a system like the United States’ FATCA that taxes overseas-based citizens on worldwide income makes it all the more likely that SVV recipients will instead be squeezed to replenish state coffers and by extension, bankroll the full-scale invasion of........

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