Marriage Emigration of Russian Women: Causes, Trends, Effects

The article discusses the trends of female emigration from Russia after the collapse of the USSR. A comparative study with data from foreign statistics, opinion polls of experts show that the phenomenon of “Russian wives” has become a very common phenomenon on a global scale. The article analyzes the factors and causes of marital emigration of women from Russia. Factors contributing to the marital emigration of Russian women abroad were also highlighted. At the heart of emigration are “pushing” socio-economic and demographic factors of Russia. As attracting to a greater extent subjective-psychological. On the basis of a comparative analysis of Russian and foreign statistics, an attempt was made to assess the scope and geography of the phenomenon of marital emigration from Russia. The key areas of emigration of Russian women after the collapse of the USSR, which include the USA, European countries, and Asian countries (Japan, Korea, China, Middle East countries) have become popular in recent years. The structure and institutions in Russia that contribute to the marriage emigration of women and their entry into the international marriage market have been determined. Also identified risks associated with the relocation of women abroad in order to enter into marriage, including involvement in traffic, sexual and labor exploitation, becoming addicted.


Introduction
After the collapse of the USSR, Russia became actively involved in various forms of international migration of the population. The scale of emigration from the country in the post-Soviet period has increased many times in comparison with the Soviet period. The reasons for this were, firstly, the opening of borders and a significant simplification of the procedures for crossing them; secondly, the transformation of intra-state (inter-republican) migration to international, in particular, previously formed migration flows, due to kinship and geographical structure of the economy, became interstate after the collapse of the USSR; thirdly, the difficult political and socioeconomic situation in Russia also stimulated the outflow of immigrants abroad, primarily to the USA, Israel, Germany, and European countries.
Women became active participants in migration processes. They are involved in all forms of migration: labor, education, migration for the purpose of family reunification, etc. So, if in 1997 their share among migrants leaving the country and arriving in the country for permanent residence was less than a third (24% of the migration turnover), then by 2000 it was 51%. The share of women in the country's migration turnover exceeded the share of men until 2012, when the rules for the statistical registration of migrants changed by 2016, the share of women has decreased to 43%. Among immigrants from Russia for permanent residence abroad women make up a significant proportion. In the 2000s, in absolute terms, female immigrants to Russia exceeded the number of female emigrants from Russia. But in relative terms, the proportion of women among immigrants was higher than the proportion of women among immigrants. Since 2012, the situation has changed. There is an excess of the share of women among immigrants over the share among emigrants (37.3% and 29.9%, respectively). In 2016, this ratio was 45% and 40.3%, respectively. These data indicate that Russia, as a result of migration, seems to be "accumulating" the female population. However, behind this statistics there is an incomplete accounting of migration events, including among women.
Labor migration is a popular form of modern emigration from Russia. However, judging by official statistics, women are not as actively involved as men. If in the early 2000s, the proportion of women among temporary labor immigrants was 7-16%, then by 2014 it had decreased to 5%. Moreover, not only relative, but also absolute indicators of temporary labor migration of women decreased: in 2011, the number of women emigrants was 7.3 thousand, and in 2014 -3.2 thousand (Ryazantsev et al., 2016). However, it is important to note that the registration of emigration in modern Russia is very difficult. This is due to the fact that a person who has independently found a job abroad, does not move to another country for the purpose of employment, does not inform the state authorities and does not fall into the statistics. Therefore, it is obvious that statistics on women's labor emigration are inaccurate.
One of the most common forms of emigration from Russia was the marriage emigration of women who left the country in search of a foreign husband or went to the country of residence of their spouse. Departure of Russian women outside of Russia, as a rule, became emigration for permanent residence. And even if the marriage was unsuccessful, many Russian women preferred to remain abroad, acquiring a residence permit or citizenship there. At first glance, the choice of spouse and place of residence is a personal matter, which characterizes the freedom of the individual. But on the other hand, for Russia, the outflow of women of reproductive age affects not only the reduction of the population, but also reduces the birth rate. That is, female emigration entails not only direct losseswomen who have gone abroad, but also indirect -not born children in Russia. Considering that the outwardly attractive girls of reproductive age also form the basis of the emigration flow, this form of migration can be fraught with the loss of not only the demographic, but also the genetic potential of the country. For many countries of the world, marital migration of women is quite common. For example, Thai women actively travel abroad, marrying Europeans and Americans, citizens of the Philippines and Vietnam for the citizens of China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. Russia, along with Ukraine and Belarus, after the collapse of the USSR also became literally a country "exporter" of brides to international marriage markets. The reasons for encouraging women to seek their happiness abroad are complex and lie in the socio-economic, political, cultural and psychological planes. At the same time, in different periods of time in Russian society during the last quarter of a century after the collapse of the USSR, various reasons came to the fore, which predetermined the dynamics and priority directions of marriage emigration of domestic women.
This study examines some theoretical aspects of marital migration, identifies the socio-demographic structure of emigration flows from Russia, and identifies the socio-demographic consequences of female emigration for the country.

Review of Scientific Literature
In foreign scientific literature, the problem of marital emigration has long been given much attention. In particular, the issues of moving women for the purpose of marriage from less developed countries to more developed countries (Charsley, 2014) are actively discussed, the problems of determining the legal status of women and children born in international marriage (Grillot, 2016), aspects of the regulation of marital emigration through the "bride's visa" (Bray and Chart, 2016), as well as the problems of involving women through the marriage channel into the international trafficking system (European Commission, OECD, IOM, OHCHR) are being studied. Some foreign authors consider the effects of marital emigration for donor countries and women themselves (Sari and Ishii, 2016). The phenomenon of female emigration from Russia began to be considered in the scientific literature since the 1990s. And almost always, it was rightly written about as a problem for the country in the context of the loss of the demographic potential of the state. For example, Russian migration researchers E.V. Tyuryukanova and I.V. Tsallagov pointed to pushing emigration factors in the context of the economic transformation of Russian society, which led to a large number of marriages between Russian women and foreigners: "democratization of social life in the country", "great dissatisfaction and unsettled highly educated women in Russia", which in turn was determined by "difficulties of combining work with domestic problems and raising children "," by increasing economic discrimination against women in the labor market, pushing them out of high pay sectors " (Tsallagova, 1996;Tyuryukanova, 1996).
Russian researchers G. Anashkina and S. Pogodin in one of the works also focused on the diversity of reasons for the marriage emigration of Russian women, referring to them the problems of Russian society (economic, social, demographic); Russian national and cultural characteristics; demographic problems of Western European countries; psychological and cultural needs and demands of a part of men of Western society; finally, these are the opportunities offered by an open society (Anashkina and Pogodina, 2011). Russian researcher (Lunyakova, 2001) explained the increase in female marriage emigration from Russia by the increase in the number of single mothers. A number of Russian scientists are studying models of women's behavior in the context of marital emigration. For example, O. Mitina and V. Petrenko argue that "the most preferable for Russian women is to marry a man of higher social status, and a little less than a common man, a good host, living with earthly problems. In these marriage scenarios, there is a desire to find security in marriage, stability, a guaranteed standard of living, either due to the higher status of the husband, or due to the fact that he himself will solve all these issues " (Mitina and Petrenko, 2000). O. Makhovskaya argues that recently the economic factors of marital emigration from Russia are losing their relevance and fade into the background: "Female marital emigration to foreign countries no longer has "sausage ", that is, economic background. The main reason for the desire of Russian women to marry abroad is the crisis of the domestic model of the family" (Konygina, 2016).
It should be noted that the overwhelming majority of Russian researchers of this phenomenon study it from the point of view of socio-economic and psychological approaches. Note the applied aspect of this phenomenon: there are books-manuals that contain useful "tips" on how to marry a foreigner (Petrova-Solomon, 2014). Thus, if there are publications on certain aspects of the emigration of Russian women abroad, there are no comprehensive studies covering all of its aspects (psychological, socio-economic, demographic), and, consequently, the consequences of this form of emigration for the country are underestimated.

Sources of Information and Research Methods
For the purposes of this study, the legal definition of the concept of "marriage" is used, since it is this interpretation that implies official marriage, sanctioned by the state and taken into account in statistics. Marriages can be either between people living in the same locality or between people living in different localities, regions or countries. Thus, sometimes marriage can be associated with the movement of men and women to a new place of residence, that is, with migration. This type of migration is usually called marital migration.
In the Russian and international scientific literature there are two approaches to the understanding of the term "marital migration". In the first part, special attention is paid to the goal of migration, which is clearly defined as "marriage". Proponents of this approach define marriage migration as "irretrievable migration carried out in connection with marriage and the corresponding relocation of one spouse to a permanent place of residence to another spouse" (Iontsev, 2001). At the same time, relocation can be carried out both within the country (internal marriage migration), and be associated with crossing the state border (international marriage migration).
Russian scientists R. Akifyeva and V. Erashov, do not distinguish between external marriage migration, which involves marriage between people of different cultures, and marriage between citizens of one country, but having different nationalities, and in both cases use the term "mixed union" (Akifyeva and Erashova, 2016). In our opinion, it is unfair to ignore the migration aspect in inter-ethnic marriages, because in the case of moving to another country, a whole stratum of socio-economic and cultural-language problems arises among marriage migrants who deserve a comprehensive study.
The second approach somewhat expands the interpretation of the concept of "marital migration". It means not only the transfer of the bride or groom to another country for the purpose of marriage, but also the so-called family reunion, when the wife moves to her husband, who went abroad earlier. Such a definition seems to us to be somewhat redundant, since migration in the form of family reunion entails other socio-economic, demographic and psychological consequences than moving to marry abroad.
In the framework of this study, the definition of the concept of "marital migration" is used, which is characteristic of the first approach. That is, from our point of view, marital migration is the movement of people across the border in order to marry a foreign citizen.
This study is a comprehensive analysis of the problem of marital emigration of Russian women abroad. The theoretical and methodological basis for the study was the publication of domestic and foreign scientists, Russian and foreign sources of statistical information on the scale of migration in Russia, the sex-age structure of the migration flow, directions for moving, publication in the media about the fate of Russian brides married to foreigners, as well as activities of marriage agencies.
Currently, there are two main sources of statistical data in Russia that allow to estimate the scale of emigration. The first source is the data of the Federal State Statistics Service on permanent emigration abroad. However, this information includes only those who withdrew from the register in Russia in connection with the departure abroad for permanent residence. In addition, the marriage reason for leaving is not separately recorded.
The second source is the data of the Federal Migration Service, which existed until 2016 as an independent body of state power, and now transferred to the authority of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, about labor emigration. They contain information on the number of Russian citizens who left the country for the purpose of employment abroad through companies having licenses for the right to employment of Russian citizens abroad (Ryazantsev et al., 2016). That is, all who independently found an employer and went abroad to work in this statistics, unfortunately, do not fall.
And although both of these sources contain data on the gender structure of migrants, however, marriage does not appear in the list of exit goals, which complicates the analysis. Sociological studies show that emigration to permanent residence and labor emigration often turn into marriage emigration. However, it is difficult to establish the exact scale of this phenomenon on the basis of statistical instruments available in Russia.
This deficiency of Russian statistics can be partially compensated by statistics from countries receiving Russian emigrants -some countries are developing statistics on marriages with foreigners by spouse's countries of origin in population censuses (for example, Japan and Korea), and also in visa statistics (USA, France, Canada, Australia). Thus, indirectly, one can estimate the number of Russians who married abroad. Although the geography of countries with these statistics is extremely limited.
An important methodological issue of this study was the study of the infrastructure of the marriage emigration of Russian women who married abroad, as well as the characteristics of their adaptation and integration into host societies, including the legal and socio-economic situation.
A data bank was created, including personal interviews and interviews presented in the press with Russian spouses of foreign citizens currently living abroad. In addition, blogs and groups in social networks were analyzed, including Russian women -marriage immigrants abroad. And also as a source of research we considered television programs (for example, the project "Russian wives"), which included the biography of compatriots who married foreigners and live abroad.
Exploring the trends of marital emigration of Russian women, it seemed necessary to study the infrastructure of this phenomenon, the central element of which are marriage agencies, acting as mediators (mediators) and assistants in finding a foreign spouse. An analysis of the websites of marriage agencies working in the international sector was conducted in order to identify their role and the effectiveness of providing assistance to Russian women in finding a husband (partner) abroad, as well as determining the price of these services.
Thus, the research toolkit included interviews with Russian women of marriage immigrants and employees of the diplomatic missions of the Russian Federation abroad, analysis of information from printed, electronic and television sources, processing statistical data, and studying the websites of marriage agencies.

Discussion
It should be noted several debatable aspects of the problem under study. Despite the fact that the push factors of emigration to different stages of modern Russian history changed, they were more stable with regard to the marriage emigration of women and included a combination of objective factors (decrease in income, deterioration of the position of women in the labor market, lack of potential partners in the domestic marriage market, especially in the Russian province) and subjective factors (the perception of Russian women of foreigners as more reliable partners against the background of the social degradation of some Russian men, the expectation of more than you level of life abroad). The wide dissemination of information about the possibilities of emigration and better accommodation abroad and their high desire to get abroad, against the background of a lack of qualifications and knowledge of foreign languages, turned the emigration installations of a certain part of Russian women exclusively into the mainstream of marriage emigration.
The exact size of the marriage emigration of Russian women remains unclear. Moreover, it is difficult to estimate both the emigration flows in dynamics and the number of Russian women living abroad at the present time. It is possible to give only indirect estimates of the phenomenon of marital emigration of Russian women. An expert survey shows that approximately one in three Russian women who have emigrated abroad are related to the marriage channel of emigration. In this case, the scale of marital emigration of Russian women for the period from 1993 to 2016 amounted to about 300 thousand people. More detailed calculation results for the period 2008-2016 are given in the statistics in Table 1. When assessing the extent of marital emigration from Russia, it is also advisable to use data from foreign statistics. The migration rules of some states provide for the issuance of a "brides" visa. A Russian woman entering the country to marry a foreign citizen must receive a special type of visa. The issuance of visas for "brides" is carried out by the United States, Japan, France, Great Britain, Germany, and some other states.
One of the most popular countries for the marriage emigration of women from Russia is the United States. Among Russian women, the view was strengthened about the economic and social well-being of this country, the reliability and total viability of American men. In addition, the visa "bride" -is one of the easiest ways to move and legalize in the United States. Over the past twenty years, about 20.5 thousand people from Russia have entered the United States on visas of "brides". At the same time, the maximum values fell on the period 1999-2007, when more than a thousand Russian women received visas for "brides" annually (Table 2). The subsequent (since 2008) reduction in the number of visas issued by brides in the United States can probably be explained by the relative stabilization of the socio-economic situation in Russia, the implementation of demographic policy measures, which involve significant support for families with children, and the complication of political relations between countries later period).
Another country that actively receives migrants from Russia, including marital migrants, is Germany. About 20 thousand Russians move to the country annually, of which more than 60% are women (International Migration Outlook, 2014). At the same time, family reasons for migration are among the most common. For example, in 2016, more than 20% (or 4.3 thousand) of Russians moved to Germany with the goal of marriage or family reunification (Einreise und Aufenthalt, 2012). Most of them were women who moved to marry German men (56% of all migrants who moved to Germany for family reasons). There is an increase in marital migration from Russia to Germany. If in 2010, 1.5 thousand Russians received visas for the "brides", in 2016, their number exceeded 2 thousand.
With the difficulties of an accurate assessment of the number of Russian women -marriage immigrant women, it is possible to characterize the socio-demographic parameters and identify the general patterns of marriage migrants based on interviews with them and experts.
First of all, against the background of the absence of precise tools for the statistical assessment of marital emigration from Russia, the phenomenon of "Russian (Russian) brides and wives" has become almost a universal phenomenon and is fixed by us in many countries around the world. Interviews with employees of diplomatic missions conducted by us in Brazil, Argentina, USA, Mexico, France, Spain, South Africa prove that the phenomenon of "Russian wives" is widespread. Russian citizens married to foreigners living in these countries often turn to Russian representations both in ordinary situations (replacing documents, receiving references, communication, etc.) and in difficult life issues (during divorces and conflicts with a spouse, property division and so forth).
Many Russian women citizens prefer to give children born in joint marriages Russian citizenship, and sometimes even faster than the citizenship of the host country. Currently, Russian legislation allows this to be done very simply with the consent of the foreign spouse. Russian consuls in many countries confirm the growing popularity of this service. On the one hand, Russian women consider having a child's Russian citizenship as a guarantee of protection from the state and the possibility of traveling to Russia in the future for himself, and on the one hand, as his own guarantee and insurance in case of a complication of relations with a foreign spouse.
In addition, the study recorded the phenomenon of remarriages of Russian wives. A significant part of the Russian emigrant marriages are women who have failed in their previous marriage with a Russian or a foreigner. They purposefully, wanting to stay in the country or move to another country, are looking for a foreign spouse. Often they already have children from their first marriage.
If previous studies indicated that ethnic Russian women who were not previously married were a big part of this stream, the average age of emigrants was 28 years old, most had a higher education (Tyuryukanova, 1996), now the phenomenon of "Russian wives" becomes largely not so much a geographical or ethnic phenomenon as a sociocultural phenomenon. It is based on stereotypes that have been formed in some countries and are successfully supported by marriage agencies. In particular, it is widely believed that the Russian wife is educated, economic, docile, obedient, family-oriented, well-managed, and has children. Against the background of emancipation in Western countries, these qualities among local women are becoming a thing of the past. And "Russian wives" fill this socio-cultural niche in the marriage market. At the same time, many marriage agencies focus special attention, one might say speculate, on the aesthetic aspects -the external beauty of Russian women. Many ads include a portfolio of photos and become the decisive parameter in the provision of mediation services in finding a wife via the Internet. And besides, in some countries (for example, in China) the Russian wife is an element of the prestige and image of a successful man.
It should be noted that the phenomenon of "Russian wife" is also becoming increasingly international, as it includes women not only from Russia, but also Slavic women from the entire post-Soviet space, primarily from Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, who also prefer to be called Russians abroad. The word "Russian" is more understandable to foreign husbands, and besides "Russian wife" is already a stable and expensive brand in many marriage markets.
Against the background of a sharp increase in the marital emigration of Russian women, the commercialization and institutionalization of the marriage market took place. The infrastructure of marriage emigration has been formed, which is represented by private consulting firms, professional matchmakers and, of course, marriage agencies. The most common are the latter. Moreover, in the conditions of active use of the Internet, the geographical location of intermediaries is not critical, they operate across borders in different countries.
According to our estimates, there are at least 300 marriage agencies in Russia, including about 100 located in Moscow (only agencies with their own websites were counted). About 70% of them are looking for a spouse for Russian women not only domestically, but also abroad. Many agencies were opened in the early 1990s, which testifies to the success of their business. The activity of the marriage agency in Russia is very profitable. The average number of questionnaires in the agency is 3-4 thousand, and the average cost of placing the questionnaire is 30 thousand rubles (approximately $ 500).
Many agencies have a solid reputation and an extensive base of potential brides and grooms. Many, besides the basic functions, provide additional services to clients, for example, the services of a psychologist, astrologer, numerologist, etc. About 60% of female clients of marriage agencies are women aged 30-45. Although there are both much more young girls, and women of more solid age.
With the development of technology, an unorganized (spontaneous) marriage market of dating appeared, represented by Internet dating sites. The features of their functioning are the wide distribution of false ("fake") information (other people's photos in the database, false information about themselves, etc.). Getting acquainted through the Internet, people do not see each other; they cannot really evaluate a potential partner. Chances are high to get on a person associated with crime, mentally unstable, etc. There are many cases in which Russian citizens got into various forms of dependence and exploitation in different countries (USA, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, etc.) when they got acquainted with foreigners and married them in this way.
In the case of international acquaintance, there is also a high risk for Russian women to become involved in the system of international trafficking. In modern Russia, marriage agencies are not required to obtain state licenses, which does not allow them to control their activities. Frequently, the organizers of trafficking use model and marriage agencies to cover the channels of export of women abroad and engage them in human trafficking and prostitution. Usually, such "agencies" take money from a woman, promising to find a decent foreign groom, and from a man who "buys" a woman in an "agency" at a rather high price, can subsequently exploit her or resell (Ryazantsev and Sivoplyasova, 2014).
In the relationship of women with marriage agencies and dating sites, there is often the so-called problem of "tacit consent". From the advertising message of the agency or site, a woman may well understand the possible real goals for which it is required. For example, the information posted on the site of a well-known marriage agency in Russia says: "For girls of model appearance up to 25 years oldposting [the questionnaire] for free!". And although such a formulation does not cost anything illegal, but the information makes you think about what really stands behind this stimulation of demand.
Note that the marriage emigration of Russian women is associated with another significant risk. In the case of separation of the spouse there is the problem of determining the place of residence of the child. The overwhelming majority of women naturally would like to pick up a child (children), live with him in their country of residence, or want to return to Russia. However, in most countries, the courts stand up primarily to protect the rights of their own citizens, ordering children to leave with their father (such cases occurred many times in the USA, Finland, France, Italy, etc.). In some states of the Middle East, laws are directly obliged to leave the child in the father's family in case of divorce.
For example, on September 29, 2017, a Russian woman was detained in the United States on charges of kidnapping her children. Previously, she was married to a US citizen, had two children, born in Russia, from previous marriages. She gave birth to a third (joint) child after a divorce also in Russia. However, after a divorce from a foreign husband, the court determined the place of residence of the children with the father. In connection with the non-execution of the court decision, the woman was detained, she was denied release on bail (US Court ..., 2017). Similar cases were recorded in Finland, France, Italy and other countries.
Thus, marital migration involves many social, economic, demographic, and legal consequences and problems.

The Results of the Study
The study leads to the following conclusions. First of all, Russia has become an active participant in international migration. Moreover, A long period a large proportion of the migration flow were women. Female migration was carried out in various forms, but the specific migration characteristic of women is.
Despite the lack of reliable statistics on the number of Russian women who have left and abroad, the phenomenon of "Russian wives" has become a significant sociocultural phenomenon in many countries around the world. The most popular countries of attraction for Russian brides are the United States, Germany, Spain, and Israel. New direction of marriage migration from Russia is China. The general land borders, the imbalance of the gender and age structure of the population of the Middle Kingdom, the heightened interest in Asian culture on the part of the Russian population are factors that encourage migration between countries in general, and marital migration in particular.
The phenomenon of "Russian wives" is a collective sociocultural concept that includes not only Russian citizens, but also numerous Slavic women from the countries of the former USSR. In addition to the socio-cultural aspect, the concept of Russian wives has acquired an economic content and characterizes a certain, in-demand, cohort of women in the international marriage market, compensating for the gender imbalance that is emerging as a result of emancipation in Western countries. In this regard, a number of significant risks are formed that affect both the socio-demographic and economic situation in the country, and the lives of women themselves.
An analysis of the age and ethnic structure of the migration flows of women shows that mainly young beautiful girls of Slavic appearance and active reproductive age are leaving the country. This situation is a threat to the preservation of both the gene pool of the country and its demographic potential.
In addition to national threats and risks, marital migration from the country entails individual costs for women. They are caused by the risks of dependence and exploitation by a foreign husband, into the system of international trafficking, sexual exploitation and prostitution. The specific features of this type of crime are its latent nature, as well as the difficulty of finding and proving the guilt of a criminal. In the overwhelming majority of cases, violence is used against women, which entails the loss of both physical and mental health.
In addition, an important negative consequence of marital migration, affecting, above all, the woman herself, but at the same time, affecting the socio-demographic situation in the country, is the loss of children after the dissolution of marriage. Often the judicial authorities of the states side with the citizens of their country. Therefore, it is extremely difficult (and sometimes even impossible) for Russian women to protect their rights in another state. Thus, Russia is losing its population, its labor potential.
For Russia as a state, the outflow of women of reproductive and working age leads to the loss of labor and demographic resources exacerbates the direct and indirect reduction of the population, the decline in the birth rate, contributes to depopulation.

Funding
The study was conducted with the support of the Council on grants of the President of the Russian Federation (project number MK-2984MK- .2017).

Disclosure Statement
The authors declare no conflict of interests.