INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
and March.Former Soviet countries saw significant spikes in arrivals after Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb
accepted 38,281 Russians in the first quarter of 2022, the FSB said, a nearly fivefold jump from the 8,504 Russians accepted over the same
time last year.A nearly fivefold increase was also seen in Tajikistan, where 40,054 Russians arrived this January-March compared with 8,857
in January-March 2021.Estonia saw a fourfold increase (125,426) compared with last year (29,364)
Fellow Baltic states Latvia (25,568 compared with 13,521) and Lithuania (48,197 compared with 41,838) saw slight increases.Armenia saw a
threefold jump of 134,129 arriving Russians from 44,586 over the same time last year.The FSB reported a similar threefold jump for arrivals
in Uzbekistan at 53,084 this year compared with 15,206 in 2021.The number of Russians arriving in Kazakhstan doubled to 204,947 in
January-March 2021.Egypt (351,926), Turkey (363,849) and the United Arab Emirates (263,519), which did not join Western airspace closures,
were popular tourist destinations for Russians.The highest number of arriving Russians were reported in Abkhazia (744,548), which is
internationally recognized as part of Georgia.The human rights organization Perviy Otdelreported this week that FSB agents have started
asking the relatives of Russians who have fled the country to persuade the new emigres to return.
