CAUCASUS ANALYTICAL DIGEST No. 57, 3 December 2013
5
Azerbaijani Migrants in Russia
Adeline Braux, Paris
Abstract
Russia has been the most popular emigration destination for Azerbaijanis since even before the end of the
USSR. About 600,000 Azerbaijanis live in the Russian Federation where they are engaged mainly in the
trade sector, especially in retail markets. Unlike more recent migrants, particularly those from Central Asia,
they are now quite well integrated economically and tend to be a new middlemen minority.
Introduction
According to the International Organization for Migra-
tion, the Russian Federation has been a host country for
more than 12 million migrants since 1989 and roughly
9% of the population in Russia are immigrants. Since
1991, Russia has indeed recorded a positive net migra-
tion rate with almost all the member states of the former
Soviet Union (not taking into account the Baltic states).
Before 1991, populations originating from the South
Caucasus and from Central Asia were among the least
mobile of the USSR, both inside and outside their repub-
lic, but today this situation changed diametrically, and
questions the post-imperial character of these migration
flows. Russia is now the most popular emigration desti-
nation for Azerbaijani nationals, far more so than West-
ern Europe or the Unites States, and everything indi-
cates that this tendency will continue: indeed, while
the European Union remains largely closed to all work-
related legal immigration, Russia has left its borders, at
least for the moment, relatively open.
In this regard, migrations in the post-Soviet area
sometimes take on post-imperial aspects. Moreover, they
are a remarkable example of the way social issues develop
on their own since they are often excluded from official
policy. Indeed, a lot of institutions were created since
1991 to maintain formal relations between the former
ex-Soviet republics, and above all the Commonwealth
of Independent States. But these institutions have been
revealed as barely operational, and thus the migrations of
previously Soviet citizens to Russia contribute to main-
taining some links. From this point of view, Azerbaijani
citizens benefit from a favourable regime as they have
no obligation to obtain a visa to enter Russia. Although
immigration from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbeki-
stan to Russia is a relatively recent phenomenon that can
be dated back to the beginning or mid-2000s, Azerbai-
jani immigration took root as of the late 1980s, early
1990s. It is based on a number of networks, some of
which were set up before the breakdown of the USSR.
Statistics and Recent Historical Background
The number of Azerbaijanis in Russia, whether they pos-
sess Russian citizenship or not, is at an all-time high.
Their number is subject to widespread speculations. On
the one hand, the media and some organizations repre-
senting Azerbaijanis have a common tendency, though
different motives, to overestimate them to a 2 million
community. On the other hand, most Russian scholars
as well as the Federal Migration Service (FMS) agree on
a number ranging from 600,000 to one million persons
of Azerbaijani background. This may be the most cau-
tious estimation since, according to the last population
census carried out in the Russian Federation in 2010,
603,070 people in Russia declared themselves “Azerbai-
janis”, which makes them one of the ten most numer-
ous ethnic groups in the country. Among them, almost
360,000 are men. In addition to that, the World Bank’s
statistics for 2010 showed a bilateral migration matrix
of almost 900,000 in favour of Russia. As far as Azer-
baijani remittance inflows for 2013 are concerned, the
World Bank’s projections show that money transfered
from foreign countries to Azerbaijan, should amount to
$2.2 billion, sent mainly from Russia. As for migrant
remittance outflows from Azerbaijan, they reached $2.1
billion in 2012. These figures are just a partial slice of
reality but they tend to show that Azerbaijan generates
emigration, but now attracts migrants, too.
Yet, the levelling tendency of statistics should not
obliterate the fact that there are as many types of migra-
tion as immigrants themselves, whose trajectories and
reasons for migrating are extremely diverse. The years
1989–1992 were a period of sharp increase in migration
flows to Russia due to the conflicts in the post-Soviet
area. Then, from 1994, the flows decreased dramatically.
Migration flows at this time were characterized by their
heterogeneity since there were refugees and IDPs, as well
as transit migrants and economic immigrants. Indeed,
migration factors were often intertwined. These quali-
tative and quantitative elements also concern migration
flows from Azerbaijan to Russia and gave birth to immi-
grant communities that are nowadays labelled “diaspo-
ras.” At the very beginning of the 1990s and contrary to
immigrants from Central Asia who were predominantly
ethnic Russians, migration flows from Azerbaijan were
composed of the nationals who formed a majority in the
former Soviet republic. In fact, Russians started leaving
CAUCASUS ANALYTICAL DIGEST No. 57, 3 December 2013
6
the republics of the Southern Caucasus as early as the
1960s; therefore the number of Russian candidates for
emigration was reduced. As a result of the Karabakh
conflict, massive displacements took place and Azeri
IDPs headed on from Karabakh and surrounding dis-
tricts to Baku, before migrating to Russia, mainly due
to dire economic conditions. If Moscow and St. Peters-
burg remain the most popular destinations for obvious
reasons, the Ural region—particularly Yekaterinburg,
Tyumen and Siberia in general, where the workforce def-
icit is blatant, have attracted and still do attract Azer-
baijani immigrants in large numbers.
The Importance of the Service Sector for
Employment
Whatever the circumstances that led them to leave their
country of origin, most Azerbaijani immigrants in Rus-
sia, be they long-term or recent settlers, are involved in
the trade sector, where they are believed to account for
as much as 20% of the retail business. It only takes a
walk through any Russian market, especially in Mos-
cow, to notice that Azerbaijanis run many stalls. Trade
and sales remain a means of economic integration for
many recent and earlier South Caucasian migrants in
a context marked by the rapid development of services
upon entry into the market economy.
The networks which are prolonged or constituted as
a result of post-Soviet migration appear significant in
explaining, notably, the presence of particular groups of
immigrants in certain economic sectors. They assist in
the comprehension of, for instance, the ways of launch-
ing and of developing immigrant businesses, as well as
entrepreneurial practicalities, for example ways of man-
aging labour forces, relationships with marketed prod-
ucts and customer profiles. The presence of the so-called
“Azerbaijani diaspora” in some “niche markets”, such as
the flower business, dates back to Soviet times.
In the Russian Federation, as in many other coun-
tries, immigrant entrepreneurship has found a way to
blossom in the service sector. The networks acquire a
particular significance for the immigrant communi-
ties and take on different configurations according to
the contexts and the individuals concerned. They can
be considered as a means of questioning the collective
dynamics in migration, notably the permanent tension
between adoption of the norms of the society of settle-
ment and preservation of a given community, integra-
tion into Russia and conservation of a link with coun-
tries of origin by different vectors.
Restaurants are another attractive economic sector
for Azerbaijanis in Russia, especially for small investors:
small market snacks intended for Azerbaijani customers
(but not only), restaurant complexes comprising several
banquet rooms and hired singers, karaokes, or even res-
taurants that offer European and Japanese food along
with traditional Azeri cuisine. This is nothing new since
the service sector usually offers many job opportunities
to immigrants, especially in global cities. Yet, this sec-
tor has experienced a real boom in Russia since service
industries were almost nonexistent during the Soviet
period, or were run by the state in a quite inefficient way.
Some Azerbaijanis who settled in Russia as of the
1980s started from scratch and made their way in Rus-
sia while opening a so-called “cooperative business” in
the wake of the economic liberalisation launched by
Mikhail Gorbachev. Then they climbed up the social lad-
der and became successful businessmen. There are even
some well-known success stories: Araz Agalarov and
Vagit Alekperov for instance, respectively lead Crocus
International Holding and Lukoil, and Telman Ismay-
lov (who used to own Tcherkizovsky market before it
was closed down in 2009) is also a well-known figure.
A New “Middlemen Minority”
Since the mid-2000s, a majority of immigrants from the
former USSR in Russia come from Central Asia, first and
foremost from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
These new immigrants form a kind of lumpenproletar-
iat engaged in the so-called “3D jobs” (dirty, dangerous,
and difficult), mainly in the construction business, but
also in care and cleaning sectors. In this respect, Azer-
baijani immigrants in Russia gained a certain status
compared to their Central Asian counterparts. Nowa-
days, they act as a kind of new “middlemen-minority”,
that is to say a community well integrated econom-
ically and acting as a “go-between group” in society
but that may become a scapegoat in a context of socio-
economic rivalries with the local population. Thus all
the more as Caucasians are first and foremost affected
by racist behaviour, the motivations for which stem as
much from the representations and the history of Cau-
casians as from stereotypes and prejudices anchored in
the contemporary context.
In October 2013, there was a blatant example of how
an isolated case involving a migrant can spark a violent
anti-migrant campaign. Orhan Zeynalov, an Azerbai-
jani native suspected of killing a Russian man in Mos-
cow on 10 October, was arrested by the police. At the
very beginning, peaceful demonstrations of the local
population of Biryulovo, the district where the murder
occurred, took place. They demanded tighter control of
the police in this area, and more severe immigration laws.
On October 13 though, a crowd of thousands of anti-
migrant protestors, some of them belonging to nation-
alist groups, stormed the local warehouse where a lot of
migrants were employed, as they searched for the sus-
CAUCASUS ANALYTICAL DIGEST No. 57, 3 December 2013
7
pected man, and clashed with police. Finally, the veg-
etable warehouse was closed by the authorities and the
warehouse’s directors, also originating from Azerbaijan,
were arrested on the grounds of employing a (foreign)
illegal labour force.
The retail business, especially retail markets, is con-
sidered particularly impenetrable and plagued with crim-
inality, especially in Moscow. In the wake of the 2006–
2007 anti-migrant campaign, one of the first measures
taken by local authorities had been the closing down of
Tcheriomushki retail market, where a lot of migrants
from Georgia used to work. The widespread stereotypes
in Russia against immigrants engaged in trade activities
also has a lot to do with the Soviet period, when trade
was associated with speculation, and therefore punish-
able by criminal law. And, Caucasian minorities, includ-
ing Azerbaijanis who are known—rightly or wrongly—
to “hold” several retail markets in Moscow, are perceived
as particularly good at doing business. This has much
more to do with the economic conditions than with
some “ethnic abilities.” When asked about their profes-
sional activities, a lot of Azerbaijanis engaged in the trade
sector prefer using the expression “individual entrepre-
neurship” (in Russian individual’noe predprinimatel’stvo)
which is a way to present a wide range of activities (from
import-export trade to the ownership of a cheap eat-
ing place or very small retail businesses), and helps give
their activities a semblance of prestige, if not of legal-
ity. Some of them even boast, saying “they have trade
in their blood”, and members of the Azerbaijani intelli-
gentsia contend, in an hazardous attempt to give a his-
toric explanation, that the presence of their countrymen
in the trade sector is somehow related to the Silk Road
period, whereas in fact, the Eastern Caucasus was not
situated on the main route to China.
So, unlike migrants from Central Asia, the Azerbai-
jani “diaspora” in Russia seems more integrated, at least
economically. Another interesting point is the presence
of advocacy organizations which try to lobby in favor of
Azerbaijanis. In Moscow, the two most active organiza-
tions are the All-Russia Azerbaijanis Congress (VAK)
and the Federal National Cultural Autonomy of Azer-
baijanis. For instance, when the new legislation on for-
eigners came into force in 2007, they tried to obtain a
more liberal implementation for the citizens of Azer-
baijan. In Zeynalov’s case, they immediately offered
their help to Russian authorities to arrest the suspected
man when it was revealed that he came from Azerbai-
jan. However, their impact remains very dependant on
the state of the relations between the Azerbaijani and
Russian authorities.
About the Author
Adeline Braux is Associate Researcher at the Centre d’études des mondes russe, caucasien et centre-européen (CERCEC,
Paris) and an Associate Doctor of the Centre d’études et de recherches internationales (CERI-SciencesPo, Paris)
Sources and further readings
• BRAUX. Adeline. 2013. “Azerbaijanis in Russia: an ‘imagined diaspora’?”. In Marlène Laruelle (eds.),
Migration
and Social Upheaval as the Face of Globalization in Central Asia.
Leiden: Brill.
• RUMYANSEV. Sergey. 2013 (February). Azerbaijan: Readmission, Return and Reintegration in the Socio-Political
Context. Consortium for Applied Research on Migration (CARIM)
• Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation:
• International Organization for Migration:
• Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty:
• World Bank:
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