Russia's 'anti-woke' visa lures those fearing a moral decline in the West

[Zorro]

A network of Kremlin-backed influencers seek to portray Russia as a bastion of traditional values in an attempt to attract those who deplore Western “liberalism.”

In a brightly lit conference room of a Moscow police department, a smiling officer flanked by Russian flags and gilded double-headed eagles handed over small blue booklets to an American family of five — asylum certificates granting them the right to live and work in Russia after fleeing Texas because they felt their way of life was under threat.

“I feel like I’ve been put on an ark of safety for my family,” 61-year-old Leo Hare said at the time. “I want to thank President [Vladimir] Putin for allowing Russia to become a good place for families in this world climate.”

“In a small way it feels like I just got married to Russia,” echoed his wife, Chantelle Hare, 51. “I look forward to building a future here with my family. I look forward to the opportunities that my sons will have here.”

Footage of the ceremony, shared on the Interior Ministry’s official media channels, was accompanied by a caption declaring that “yet another American family choose our country to live in … understanding that in our country traditional values are protected by the state.”

The Hare family, devout Christians who ran a farm in Texas, describe themselves as a family of “moral migrants” and have emerged as the face of a small but growing trend of Westerners relocating to Russia in search of the traditional, conservative values they feel are eroding in the liberal West. Their journey reflects the ideological narrative Putin has spent years crafting: Russia as the guardian of family-centered traditions amid a Western world spiraling into moral and social decay.

https://wapo.st/45XiEkU

I wonder how long it will be before they are clamoring to return to Texas.