Putin's Isolation Spurs Russians Westward

摘要

When pollsters ask Russians if they like the U.S., the answer is a resounding nyet. In a survey released on Oct. 14 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 two years ago. But the number of Russians trying to emigrate to the U.S. has never been higher. The U.S. Department of State says Russian applications for this year's U.S. green card lottery hit an all-time high of 265,086, even though only about 4,000 of 100,000 slots in the drawing were set aside for Russians. Last year, 245,638 got visas allowing them to stay temporarily in the U.S. for work, study, or tourism. That's more than double the number a decade ago, despite the ruble losing nearly half its value against the dollar in 2014, making U.S. travel far costlier for Russians.