RUSSIANS’ EXODUS FROM AZERBAIJAN HAS PRACTICALLY STOPPED – BAKU

Interfax News Agency
April 14 2008
Russia

The number of Russians leaving Azerbaijan has fallen drastically,
head of the Russian Community in Azerbaijan, Azeri MP Mikhail Zabelin,
told Interfax.

"The exodus of Russians from Azerbaijan has decreased significantly.

Only those who have found themselves in dire straits or those who
want to reunite with their families are leaving," Zabelin said.

"As of today, only ten or fifteen applications to leave for Russia have
been filed. And they [people who filed these applications] are still
thinking. We expected that there would be hundreds of applications,"
Zabelin said.

There are cases when Russians who earlier lived in Azerbaijan but
left the country want to return and have asked the Russian Community
in Azerbaijan for assistance, he said. "But it is impossible to help
in securing housing in present-day conditions. Only seven of the 15
families that turned to me were able to remain in Azerbaijan. Eight
families were forced to return back to Russia," Zabelin said.

Azerbaijan is home to the largest Russian diaspora in the region,
he said. Some 168,000 Russians live in Azerbaijan; about 10,000,
in Georgia; and about 5,000, in Armenia.