If Russians Hate the U.S. So Much, Why Do They Want to Move There?
The number of Russians trying to emigrate to the States has never been higher.
Red Square and St. Basil's cathedral in Moscow.
Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
When pollsters ask Russians if they like the United States, the answer is a resounding nyet. In a survey released this week by the independent Levada Center polling group in Moscow, 71 percent said the U.S. played "a negative role in the world," up from 50 percent who held that view two years ago.
But the number of Russians trying to emigrate to the U.S. has never been higher. The State Department says Russian applications for the U.S. green-card lottery hit an all-time high of 265,086 this year, even though only about 4,000 of 100,000 slots in the drawing were set aside for Russians.