Russians in Armenia are an ethnic minority in Armenia , constituting about 11.9 thousand people or 0.39% of the population of the republic [1] . Previously, the number and proportion of Russians in the republic were somewhat higher, but after the Spitak earthquake , the collapse of the USSR , the conflict in Karabakh , the Turkish and Azerbaijani blockade and the subsequent sharp economic decline, the socio-economic situation of Russians employed mainly in industry, science and urban economy, much worse. Most of them emigrated from the country to the Russian Federation immediately after the Spitak earthquake and in the early years of independence.
Russians in Armenia | |
---|---|
Abundance and area | |
Total: 11 911 - 0.39% (2011) | |
Yerevan , Gyumri , Vanadzor , Tashir , Lermontovo , Fioletovo , Pushkino , Sevan , Chambarak , etc. | |
Tongue | Russian , Armenian |
Religion | Armenian Apostolic Church , Russian Orthodox Church , spiritual Christianity ( Molokans ) |
Indirectly, but no less noticeably than the Turkish and Azerbaijani blockades, the Georgian-South Ossetian and Georgian-Abkhaz conflicts in the early 1990s have influenced the state of Armenia. As a result of all of the above, Armenia found itself in land and energy isolation, which contributed to the mass outflow of residents of the republic abroad.
For Russians, Armenia is characterized by a high degree of assimilation. Currently, Russians in Armenia are the smallest Russian diaspora in the CIS countries .
Content
History of the Russian Diaspora
Russians in Armenia are represented by old-timers and migrants of the Soviet era, who differ socially and culturally, and by the degree of attachment to Armenia [2] .
The Russian old-time population formed in the second quarter of the XIX century, when as a result of government measures in Eastern and Northern Armenia a Russian ethnic array was formed, in the formation of which military settlers and peasants participated [2] . In the 1880s , in the territory bounded by the modern borders of the Republic of Armenia, there were 23 Russian villages, in which 11,283 people lived, including 6 Orthodox settlements (2,736 people, or 24.4%) and 17 "sectarian" (8547 people, or 75.6%) [2] . The largest settlement was Vorontsovka , the religious center of the Molokans of the whole of Transcaucasia , whose population was about 2,300 people [2] . The Molokans were the decisive component of the Russian ethnos in Eastern Armenia due to their numerical dominance and strong economic position, the strong role of religion [2] .
In addition to the peasants, Russian officers and administrators settled in Armenia. From the moment of its appearance on the territory of the future republic in the 19th century, Russians played an important role in all spheres of the country's life, especially during the Soviet period, and first of all in its capital, the city of Yerevan . The mass emigration of the early 1990s led to a significant aging of the Russian population of the country and the deterioration of its demographic indicators.
Concentration
The Russian population of modern Armenia, as well as the Armenian SSR , has been and remains historically concentrated in the cities of the republic, although there are Russian villages in the north-east of the country (primarily Lermontovo and Fioletovo ) [3] . A significant part of Russians (up to half of all Russians in the republic in different years) lived in the capital, Yerevan, [4] although their share was rarely more than 5% of its population.
The active migration of Russians from Armenia began after the Spitak earthquake in December 1988 . All areas of compact residence of the Russian population were in the disaster area [3] .
Population dynamics
Russians in the population of Armenia | 1926 census [5] | 1939 census [5] | 1959 census [5] | 1970 census [5] | 1979 census [5] | 1989 census [5] | 2001, census [6] | 2011 census [7] |
Number of people | 19548 | 51464 | 56477 | 66108 | 70336 | 51555 | 14660 | 11911 |
% Share | 2.22 | 4.01 | 3.20 | 2.65 | 2.32 | 1.56 | 0.46 | 0.39 |
According to the 2011 census, among Russians of Armenia, the proportion of women significantly exceeds the proportion of men, making up 67.97% [8] . For comparison, among the citizens of Russia living in Armenia (13351 people), the proportion of men is significantly higher than the proportion of women - 53.68% [9] .
Resettlement
Adm. Ter. unit | 2001 Census [6] | Share of population adm.-terr. units | 2011 Census [7] | Share of population adm.-terr. units |
---|---|---|---|---|
Armenia , total | 14660 | 0.46% | 11911 | 0.39% |
Yerevan | 6684 | 0.61% | 4940 | 0.47% |
Aragatsotn region | 179 | 0.13% | 180 | 0.14% |
Ararat region | 418 | 0.15% | 436 | 0.17% |
Armavir region | 480 | 0.17% | 426 | 0.16% |
Vayots Dzor region | 71 | 0.13% | 77 | 0.15% |
Gegharkunik region | 430 | 0.18% | 328 | 0.14% |
Kotayk region | 684 | 0.25% | 590 | 0.23% |
Lori region | 3882 | 1.36% | 3152 | 1.34% |
Syunik region | 253 | 0.17% | 259 | 0.18% |
Tavush region | 531 | 0.40% | 423 | 0.33% |
Shirak region | 1048 | 0.37% | 1100 | 0.44% |
Culture and politics
As the general director of the Foundation for Assistance and Assistance of Russia to Compatriots in Armenia, Ivan Semenov, points out, among those who have not left Armenia, about half are members of mixed families [3] , and among the descendants of Russians there are strong phenomena of language and ethnic assimilation by Armenians [3] .
After the adoption of the law “On Language” in 1993 , all paperwork and training was translated into Armenian, while Russian faculties in technical colleges and universities were closed, and part of qualified Russian-speaking specialists were forced to leave [3] . Russian classes remained in 40 secondary schools in Armenia, where, according to the law "On Language", only children of ethnic Russians, citizens of Russia and children from mixed marriages have the right to study [3] . Russian classes are taught according to Russian programs, and textbooks are provided by the Moscow government, but most of the subjects are taught in Armenian [3] .
Newspapers and magazines in Russian are published in Armenia: “Voice of Armenia”, “Novoye Vremya”, “Business Express”, “Interlocutor” in Armenia ”,“ Russian Language in Armenia ” [3] . The programs of Russian TV channels are broadcast in the republic, news in Russian on Armenian TV channels, the Russian Drama Theater operates [3] . The Armenian government also annually allocates funds for the activities of the Russian community [3] .
Russians have a growing ethnic identity in Armenia and a striving for intra-ethnic unification, which has created Russian cultural centers and public organizations [2] .
In 2006, five parishes of the Maikop and Armavir dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church (in the cities of Yerevan and Vanadzor and villages with the Greek and Assyrian population of Privolnoe, Dimitrov, Arzni , and Ankavan) operated in Armenia, in which two priests and one deacon served [10] . The Orthodox community numbered about 15 thousand people, among whom were many Russians [10] .
The main Orthodox Church of Yerevan, the Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos, was built in Kanaker, then the northern suburb of the city, with a Cossack regiment located here [10] . In Soviet times, the temple was closed and used as a warehouse, and then - the regimental club, and reopened in 1991, and in 2000 it was recreated in its original form [10] .
The 2011 census of Armenia showed a high degree of religious assimilation of the Russian diaspora — the majority of Russians indicated their belonging to the Armenian Apostolic Church (41.1% of the total), only 23.5% were Orthodox , 23.1% were Molokans [11 ] .
In the parliamentary elections of 2017, a representative of the Russian diaspora was elected to the Armenian parliament ( Tatiana Mikayelyan , a member of the Prosperous Armenia Party, at the National Assembly included in Gagik Tsarukyan’s faction, a native of Novotroitskoye village, Almetyevsk region of the Tatar ASSR ) [12] [13] .
See also
- Ethnic minorities in Armenia
- Temple of the Intercession of the Holy Virgin (Yerevan)
- Church of St. Nicholas (Amrakits)
Notes
- Population (urban, rural) by nationality, sex and age. The results of the 2011 census of the Republic of Armenia (indicators of the Republic of Armenia)
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 Dolzhenko I.V. Russians in Armenia: history, culture, traditions .
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Alexey Manvelyan. Russians in Armenia: the last of the Molokans . BBC (07/07/2007). The date of circulation is December 17, 2007. Archived June 26, 2012.
- ↑ For example, according to the 2001 census, 45.6% of all Russian republics lived in Yerevan, see data on resettlement in the relevant section.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 Ethno-Caucasus. The population of Armenia according to the census of 1897-2001.
- ↑ 1 2 Population statistics of Eastern Europe. Ethnic composition of Armenia 2001
- ↑ 1 2 Population statistics of Eastern Europe. Ethnic composition of Armenia 2011
- ↑ 2011 Population Census. Table 5.1. Population (urban, rural) by nationality, sex, and age .
- ↑ 2011 Population Census. Table 6.2-1 Population by country of citizenship, residence status, sex and age .
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 Orthodoxy in Armenia
- ↑ 2011 Population Census. Table 5.4. Population (urban, rural) by nationality, gender, and religion .
- ↑ Mikaelyan: the Russian language is an important factor in Russian-Armenian relations // Press Club "Commonwealth", February 27, 2018
- ↑ National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia. Deputies. Tatyana Grigorievna Mikaelyan
Literature
- S. M. Stepanyants. On the history of the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church in Armenia // Scientific Reports of BelSU. Series: History. Political science. Economy. Computer science. - 2008. - № 2 . - pp . 42-47 .
- Lashchenova E. A. Political and legal status of Russians in Armenia // Moscow Journal of International Law. −2006. - № 2. - p. 46 - 56.
- G. Muradov, T. Poloskova, K. F. Zatulin, et al. Reference book of the Russian compatriot // Moscow: Russkiy Mir, 2006. 2nd edition, pp. 16-21
- Stepanyants Stepan. Russian Orthodox Church in Armenia (general overview) . - 2001. - № 1 (115) . - p . 115-122 . - ISSN 0135-0536 .
- Dolzhenko I.V. Svyatochnyy detours from Russian and Ukrainian peasants of Eastern Armenia (end of XIX — early XX centuries) . - 1985. - № 4 (191) . - p . 191-199 . - ISSN 0135-0536 .
Links
- Russians in Armenia . Business Express (July 7 - 13, 2005). The appeal date is November 22, 2013. Archived June 26, 2012.
- Manvelyan Alexey. Russians in Armenia: the last of the Molokans . BBC (07/07/2007). The date of circulation is December 17, 2007. Archived June 26, 2012.