Russian language disappears from the streets of Yerevan

Recently, all major media outlets reported that Armenia’s GDP growth this year will be 13%, while the planned 7% is due to the influx of Russian citizens. This was announced by the head of the local Central Bank. According to him, the country also recorded a 25 percent increase in human capital in the IT sector.

It is rather problematic to estimate how many Russian citizens have actually settled in Armenia lately. In any case, this is a big influx of labor for small Armenia, whose population is just under three million people. An interesting detail: more than eight million people live outside the republic.

I flew to Yerevan in mid-October. The square in front of the Domodedovo airport is practically empty. No cars, no people. At the inspection at the entrance to the building – not a single person. I asked the woman conducting the search: “Where are the people?”

“Whoever wanted and could run away has already run away,” she answered half-ironically.

There are quite a lot of “ours” in the center of Yerevan. They can be identified not only by the “great and mighty”, but also by the fact that all smokers use exclusively electronic cigarettes. In the republic, those who arrived are not called migrants, but relocators.

Armenia is quite an attractive platform for IT people. Back in 2015, local authorities reduced the income tax rate for the IT sector to 10%. For comparison: in other areas, this tax is 21 percent. And at the end of March of this year, the government provided IT specialists with another benefit. It is allowed to refund companies 50% of income tax levied on new employees. The last solution is “sharpened” for relocators.

And, of course, the attitude of locals towards Russians in general played a big role in choosing the former Soviet republic as a place of residence. The attitude is not just good, but very good. As one taxi driver remarked, “we remember the good you did for us.” First of all, they remember the help in the restoration of the city of Spitak after the devastating earthquake in 1988. On the whole, the prevailing opinion is that the Transcaucasian republic cannot survive without Russia. That is, one cannot live without Russian gas and oil.

Nevertheless, it has already been written more than once that after the departure of Russians to the former republics of the USSR, prices for rental housing rose sharply there. Nothing surprising. Increased demand creates higher prices. Armenia is no exception. The growth in rental housing, combined with the strengthening of the local currency (drama), was quite expected, but still an unpleasant surprise for Russian relocators and tourists.

In early October, the price of the Armenian drama went up by 12%. I also suffered from this increase. I booked a room in a sanatorium at one ruble exchange rate, but paid for it at a different exchange rate. As a result, he “ran into” about 8 thousand rubles. Uncritical, of course. Just a little embarrassing.

Nevertheless, despite the increased airfare, rest and treatment in Armenia are still cheaper than in Russia with approximately the same set of services.

Food prices have also gone up. As an Armenian woman from Moscow told me, the prices in Yerevan shops are almost equal to those in Moscow. The exception is vegetables and fruits.

Since I lived on everything ready, these prices did not concern me. Yes, and there is nothing to compare with. If only with those goods that I purchase personally. We are talking about a cup of coffee and cigarettes.

A cup of delicious black coffee can be drunk for only 35-50 rubles. And what is a cup without a good cigarette? A pack of very high quality (believe my fifty years of experience as a smoker) local cigarettes costs about eighty rubles.

Armenia is the leader in the number of smokers in Europe. Of course, local authorities are pathetically and actively fighting smoking, introducing bans in some places even more stringent than in our country. For example, in Yerevan it is strictly forbidden to smoke on the street areas of cafes and restaurants. At the same time, everyone who smokes here smokes. The waitress popularly explained the nuances of the prohibitions. The authorities only penalize smoking if there is an ashtray on the table. No ashtray, no smoking. To my question: “But what then to be?” “Very simple,” the waitress replied. “You dump the ashes on the pavement, and throw the cigarette butt into a nearby urn.”

In another cafe, instead of an ashtray, they put a saucer. And smoking is becoming legal. I have always believed that reality, reduced to the point of absurdity, is considered only our privilege. An no. We have quite a worthy competitor.

In the sanatorium I met a relatively young man. My name is Sergei (name changed). Somewhere around 35 years old. IT specialist. He has two citizenships: Russian and Armenian (his father is Armenian). Long enough lived in Moscow. In May, he flew to Yerevan. There was no political background: there were certain difficulties with payments to European countries, so I decided to leave for my historical homeland.

Like most IT people, Sergey is “his own director.” Works where it is convenient. The resort is such a place. You can work, be treated and not think about your daily bread: “Any whim for your money.”

“I don’t have any state. A staff member is already an anachronism. But that doesn’t mean that I work alone. Today, a system of partnerships is being built. Instead of full-time employees – partnerships with a variety of specialists. One of the most promising directions in my activity is consulting services. There are tens of thousands of people in Yerevan, for whom the city is still alien and unfamiliar. If a person has at least seven spans in his forehead, it is still difficult for him to navigate in a foreign country. There are nuances of legislation, opening an account, renting a home. These issues are often difficult to resolve on your own. I accumulate requests from clients for consulting support. Then I conclude contracts with the necessary specialists: realtors, lawyers, financiers, economists… It turns out a kind of outsourcing. Without naming figures, I will say that the earnings are quite decent, ”Sergey explains.

With the exception of the IT specialist Sergey, the majority of the residents of the sanatorium were Armenian pensioners. Pensioners from the post-Soviet republics have one thing in common. This is the size of the pension, on which you have to not live, but to survive.

There are just over 500,000 pensioners in the republic, or 16% of the total population. The average pension is about six and a half thousand rubles. Women retire at 63, men at 65.

As of 2020, 45% of the population lived below the poverty line.

“I receive about five and a half thousand rubles translated into rubles (the minimum pension. – Approx. Aut.). It is impossible to live on this money,” says Aza, a 75-year-old pensioner. “Without the help of my children, I would not have survived. I have four of them. Lonely pensioners are the most unhappy people. Our men are proud people. If they decide to ask for money, it means that everything is bad with them. But our authorities live excellently. Why do these incomprehensible deputies get twenty times more than I do? asks the Armenian pensioner.

The salary of a deputy of the National Assembly is about 105 thousand rubles. Plus various nice bonuses. I “consoled” the woman as best I could, saying that the average pension of a Russian citizen is also twenty times less than the salary of a State Duma deputy.

There are, of course, exceptions that only prove the rule. Pensioner Vera. She is 90 years old. Looks great. Good memory and clear mind. Every day I find her at a table near the bar with the same cup of coffee and a cigarette. He speaks excellent Russian. He also speaks French and English. This is explained very simply: she spent her childhood and youth in Russia, and has been living in Canada for almost fifty years. On the day when her stay in the sanatorium ended, her son from Montreal flew in for her. For Armenians, wherever they live, the main person in the family is their mother.

There is one more thing that unites the majority of pensioners of the former Soviet republics. Nostalgia for the USSR. They are absolutely sure that they lived much better then. Who would doubt that. I remember well those times when visitors from Transcaucasia paid two or three prices for a Volga or a Zhiguli. “Moskvich” they did not consider a car.

And yet, with all the sympathy for Russia, Armenia is moving towards the West. In schools, the study of Russian is still compulsory. But young people prefer English. The dream of an Armenian teenager is to go to America.

The Russian language is disappearing from the streets of Yerevan. I saw street signs in Armenian and English…