Armenians in Russia

Armenians in Russia or Russian Armenians[n 1] are one of the country's largest ethnic minorities and the largest Armenian diaspora community outside Armenia. The 2010 Russian census recorded 1,182,388 Armenians in the country. Various figures estimate that the ethnic Armenian population in Russia is actually more than 2 million. Armenians populate various regions, including Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Krasnodar Krai in the North Caucasus and as far as Vladivostok in the East.

Armenians in Russia
Total population
1,182,388 (2010 census)[1]
2,000,000[2]—2,500,000 (estimates)[3]
0.8%-1.7% of the Russian population
Regions with significant populations
Moscow, Krasnodar Krai, Stavropol Krai, Rostov Oblast
Languages
Russian, Armenian
Religion
Christianity (predominantly Armenian Apostolic)[4][5]

History

Early period

There has been an Armenian presence in Russia since the Late Middle Ages, when various artisans, merchants and traders ventured north to the Crimea and the northern Caucasus in order to set up trade ties and conduct commerce.

Russian Empire
Portrait of Russian-Armenian General Valerian Madatov by George Dawe from the Military Gallery, 1820

A significant number of Armenians were already living in the Russian Empire before the 1820s. After the destruction of the last remaining independent Armenian states in the Middle Ages, the nobility disintegrated, leaving Armenian society composed of a mass of peasants plus a middle class who were either craftsmen or merchants. Such Armenians were to be found in most towns of Transcaucasia; indeed, at the beginning of the 19th century they formed the majority of the population in cities such as Tbilisi. Armenian merchants conducted their trade across the world and many had set up base within Russia. In 1778, Catherine the Great invited Armenian merchants from the Crimea to Russia and they established a settlement at Nor Nakhichevan near Rostov-on-Don.[6] The Russian ruling classes welcomed the Armenians' entrepreneurial skills as a boost to the economy, but they also regarded them with some suspicion. The image of the Armenian as a "wily merchant" was already widespread. Russian nobles derived their income from their estates worked by serfs and, with their aristocratic distaste for engaging in business, they had little understanding or sympathy for the way of life of mercantile Armenians.

Nevertheless, middle-class Armenians prospered under Russian rule and they were the first to seize the new opportunities and transform themselves into a prosperous bourgeoisie when capitalism and industrialisation came to Transcaucasia in the later half of the 19th century. The Armenians were much more skilled at adapting to the new economic circumstances than their neighbours in Transcaucasia, the Georgians and the Azeris. They became the most powerful element in the municipal life of Tbilisi, the city regarded by Georgians as their capital, and in the late 19th century they began to buy up the lands of the Georgian nobility, who had gone into decline after the emancipation of their serfs. Armenian entrepreneurs were quick to exploit the oil boom which began in Transcaucasia in the 1870s, having large investments in the oil-fields in Baku in Azerbaijan and the refineries of Batumi on the Black Sea coast. All this meant that the tensions between Armenians, Georgians and Azeris in Russian Transcaucasia were not simply ethnic or religious in nature but were due to social and economic factors too. Nevertheless, in spite of the popular image of the typical Armenian as a successful businessman, at the end of the 19th century 80 per cent of Russian Armenians were still peasants working the land.[7]

Soviet Russia
Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide in Volgograd, 2012

According to the Union of Russian Armenians, there are 2.5 million Armenians living in Russia today. According to the same source, about 850,000 are immigrants from Armenia, 350,000 from Azerbaijan and 250,000 from Georgia, including 100,000 from Abkhazia and 180,000 from Central Asia, mostly Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.[8]

The Russian government is encouraging Armenians to immigrate and settle in Russia and is providing financial and settlement incentives.[9]

Armenians in Russia have one of the highest rates of educational attainment. According to the 2002 census 21.4% of Armenians have higher education, 31.8% have "middle special" education (i.e. vocational education), and 46.1% have secondary education.[10]

Distribution
Distribution of Armenians in Russia, 2010
Protests in Moscow against the extradition and pardon of Ramil Safarov, 2012
Rank Federal subject 1897 1959[11] 1970[12] 1979[13] 1989[14] 2002[15] 2010[1]
1Krasnodar Krai13,926[16]78,17698,589120,797 182,217274,566281,680
2Stavropol Krai5,385[17]25,61831,09640,50472,530149,249161,324
3City of Moscow1,604[18]18,37925,58431,41443,989124,425106,466
4Rostov Oblast27,234[19]49,30553,62056,90262,603109,994110,727
5 Moscow OblastN/A5,3535,6837,5499,24539,66063,306
6 Volgograd OblastN/AN/A2,8984,2296,78426,97427,846
7Saratov Oblast168[20]1,046 1,8153,5316,40424,97623,841
8Samara OblastN/A1,0271,6292,2164,16221,56622,981
9City of Saint-Petersburg753[21]4,8976,6287,99512,07019,16419,971
10North Ossetia2,093[22]12,01213,35512,91213,61917,14716,235
11AdygeaN/A3,0135,2176,35910,46015,26815,561

Moscow
The Armenian Cathedral of Moscow, completed in 2011

The 2010 Russian census put the number of Moscow Armenians at 106,466. Another 63,306 Armenians lived in Moscow region at the time. There are various estimates on the number of Armenians in Moscow: 400,000,[23] 600,000,[24] 1,000,000.[25][26] Moscow is often regarded as the largest Armenian community outside Armenia.

Saint Catherine's Armenian Church, Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg

In 1708 the first Armenians came to St. Petersburg, and in 1710 in the city already existed "Armenian offices". In 1730, under the leadership of the priest Ivan Sheristanova organized the first parish of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Throughout the 20th century Armenian population of St. Petersburg has been steadily increasing. The number of Armenians in St. Petersburg increased from 1,759 in 1926 to 19,164[15] in 2002.

According to Soviet 1989 census 47% Armenians speak Armenian as native language, 52% speak Russian as native language. At the same time almost all fluent in Russian language. About half of the Armenians have higher education and, consequently, higher social status.[27]

According to the head of Saint Petersburg's Armenian community Karen Mkrtchyan, currently about 100,000 Armenians are living in the region of Saint Petersburg. There are 2 Armenian churches, a Sunday school, "Havatamk" Armenian monthly and a printing house.[28]

Krasnodar
See also: Cherkesogai and Hamshenis

The Krasnodar Krai is one of the biggest communities of the Armenian diaspora.[29] According to the Russian 2002 census, there were 274,566 Armenians. 211,397 of them spoke Armenian as their native language and 6,948 had Armenian citizenship.

According to estimates some 500,000,[30][31] 700,000[32] or 1,000,000[33] Armenians resided in Krasnodar.

They are chiefly concentrated in Greater Sochi (80,045[34]–125,000)[35] the city of Krasnodar (28,022[n 2]–70,000),[37] the city of Armavir (18,262[36]–50,000)[38] Tuapse (18,194)[n 3], Novorossiysk (12,092[36]–40,000)[39] Apsheron (10,659),[36] and Anapa (8,201).[36]

Rostov on Don

Historically, the Don region was home to the largest Armenian community on the territory of the modern Russian Federation. Armenians were resettled from Crimean Khanate in 1779 by orders of Catherine the Great and founded several settlements around the territory of modern Rostov-on-Don. The largest of them, Nakhichevan-on-Don, was merged into the Rostov city in 1928. Armenians still constitute the majority of Myasnikovsky District population. In 2010 Rostov-on-Don had the third largest Armenian population of all Russian cities (after Moscow and Sochi, Krasnodar Krai).

Notable Russian Armenians
RT and Sputnik Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan

Arts and entertainment
King of Russian pop Philipp Kirkorov

Politics and military
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
Marshal of the Soviet Union Ivan Bagramyan

Scientists
Nuclear physicist Yuri Oganessian
  • Evgeny Abramyan (1930–2014), one of the founders of several research directions in the Soviet and Russian nuclear technology
  • Hovannes Adamian (1879–1932), one of the founders of color television
  • Sergei Adian (1931–2020), one of the most prominent Soviet mathematicians
  • Tateos Agekian (1913–2006), astrophysicist, a pioneer of stellar dynamics
  • Sos Alikhanian (1906–1985), geneticist, one of the founders of molecular genetics in the USSR
  • Abram Alikhanov (1904–1970), physicist, one of the founders of nuclear physics in USSR, founder and director of Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics (ITEP)
  • Victor Ambartsumian (1908–1996), astrophysicist, one of the founders of theoretical astrophysics
  • Gurgen Askaryan (1928–1997), physicist, inventor of light self focusing
  • Boris Babayan (b. 1933), father of supercomputing in the former Soviet Union and Russia (Elbrus computers)
  • Mikhail Chailakhyan (1902–1991), founder of hormonal theory of plant development
  • Artur Chilingarov (b. 1939), polar explorer, member of the State Duma from 1993 to 2011
  • Amo Elyan (1903–1965), major general of engineering, head of the KB-1 which created the first anti-aircraft missile defense system S-25 Berkut[40]
  • Bagrat Ioannisiani (1911–1985), designer of the BTA-6, one of the largest telescopes in the world
  • Andronik Iosifyan (1905–1993), father of electromechanics in the USSR, one of the founders of Soviet missilery and cosmonautics
  • Alexander Kemurdzhian (1921–2003), designer of the first rovers to explore another world: first moon rovers and first mars rovers
  • Leonid Khachiyan (1952–2005), mathematician and computer scientist, known for ellipsoid algorithm
  • Semyon Kirlian (1898–1978), founder of Kirlian photography; discovered that living matter is emitting energy fields
  • Ivan Knunyants (1906–1990), chemist, a major developer of the Soviet chemical weapons program
  • Samvel Kocharyants (1909–1993), developer of nuclear warheads for ballistic missiles
  • Sergey Mergelyan (1928–2008), mathematician, made major contributions to the Approximation Theory
  • Yuri Oganessian (b. 1933), nuclear physicist in the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR), the world's leading researcher in superheavy elements
  • Leon Orbeli (1882–1958), founder of evolutionary physiology
  • Yuri Osipyan (1931–2008), physicist who worked in the field of solid state physics
  • Mikhail Pogosyan (b. 1956), aerospace engineer, general director of Sukhoi and the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC)
  • Alexei Sisakian (1944–2010), theoretical physicist, director of JINR from 2006–2010[41]
  • Norair Sisakian (1907–1966), biochemist, a founder of space biology; pioneer in biochemistry of sub-cell structures and technical biochemistry
  • Karen Ter-Martirosian (1922–2005), theoretical physicist, known for his contributions to quantum mechanics and quantum field theory

Sports
First vice-president of Russian Football Union Nikita Simonyan

Miscellaneous
World chess champion Garry Kasparov
  • Ara Abrahamyan (b. 1957), businessman
  • Ruben Dishdishyan (b. 1959), entrepreneur
  • Gabriel El-Registan (1899–1945), poet, co-author of the Anthem of the Soviet Union
  • Pavel Florensky (1882–1937), orthodox theologian, philosopher, mathematician, electrical engineer, and inventor
  • Sergey Galitsky (b. 1967), billionaire businessman, the founder and co-owner of Magnit, Russia's largest retailer
  • Karo Halabyan (1897–1959), architect, executive secretary of Union of Soviet Architects, led the development of the recovery plan of Stalingrad
  • Garry Kasparov (b. 1963), chess grandmaster, writer and political activist, considered by many to be the greatest chess player of all time
  • Miron Merzhanov (1895–1975), personal architect of Joseph Stalin in 1933–1941
  • Tigran Petrosian (1929–1984), chess grandmaster, world champion from 1963 to 1969
  • Photios I of Constantinople (810–893), orthodox patriarch, central figure in the Christianization of Kievan Rus'
  • Margarita Simonyan (b. 1980), journalist, editor-in-chief of the television news network RT
  • Artyom Tarasov (1950–2017), businessman, first millionaire in the USSR
  • Garegin Tosunyan (b. 1955), banker, president of Association of Russian Banks[42]
  • Ruben Vardanian (b. 1968), businessman, CEO of Troika Dialog

See also

References
Notes
  1. Note that this article is about the Armenians living within Russia's current borders. Through large parts of the 19th and almost the entire 20th century, part of the Armenian homeland (known as Russian Armenia or Eastern Armenia) was under Russian and later Soviet rule. For Armenians in countries that have been part of Russia in the past, see Armenians in Azerbaijan, Armenians in Georgia, Armenians in Ukraine, Armenians in Belarus, Armenians in Moldova, Armenians in the Baltic states, Armenians in Central Asia and Armenians in Poland.
  2. 21,390 in the city itself and 6,632 in the municipality[36]
  3. 5,335 in the city itself and 12,859 in the district[36]
References
  1. (in Russian) Национальный состав населения по субъектам Российской Федерации
  2. Harutyunyan 2010, p. 129.
  3. В России проживает более 2,5 млн армян [2,5 million Armenians live in Russia] (in Russian). RIA Novosti. 16 December 2002. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
  4. Arena - Atlas of Religions and Nationalities in Russia. Sreda.org
  5. "Арена в PDF : Некоммерческая Исследовательская Служба "Среда"". Sreda.org. Retrieved 2014-04-20.
  6. Suny. Armenian People, p. 110
  7. See Suny Chapter 2 "Images of Armenians in the Russian Empire" in Looking Toward Ararat: Armenia in Modern History. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993 ISBN 0-253-20773-8
  8. В России проживает более 2,5 млн армян (in Russian). РИА "Новости". December 16, 2002. Retrieved July 21, 2012.
  9. "Armenia Urges Russia to Discourage Armenian Migration". Asbarez.com. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  10. "Народы России. Атлас культур и религий". Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  11. "Демоскоп Weekly - Приложение. Справочник статистических показателей". Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  12. "Демоскоп Weekly - Приложение. Справочник статистических показателей". Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  13. "Демоскоп Weekly - Приложение. Справочник статистических показателей". Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  14. "Демоскоп Weekly - Приложение. Справочник статистических показателей". Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  15. National composition of population for regions of the Russian Federation Archived 2007-02-17 at the Wayback Machine
  16. (in Russian) Кубанская область
  17. (in Russian) Ставропольская губерния
  18. (in Russian) Московская губерния
  19. (in Russian) Облась Войска Донского
  20. (in Russian) Саратовская губерния
  21. (in Russian) г. Санкт-Петербург
  22. (in Russian) Терская область - Владикавказский округ
  23. (in Russian) В России армян "обласкали и дали им охоту"
  24. (in Russian) В России проживает более 2,5 млн армян
  25. (in Russian) Сколько русских осталось в Москве?
  26. Armenian population in the world Archived May 11, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  27. "Бизнес Санкт - Петербурга - Информация о организации". Archived from the original on 14 July 2010. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  28. Տերտերյանը "վերադարձավ" Հայրավանք // Havatamk, #8, 2015, p. 6, by Samvel Danielyan
  29. "АРМЯНЕ КРАСНОДАРСКОГО КРАЯ В КОНТЕКСТЕ СОВРЕМЕННОЙ МИГРАЦИОННОЙ СИТУАЦИИ. по Михаил Савва, "Нораванк"" (PDF). noravank.am. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
  30. Savva, Mikhail (2007). "Армяне Краснодарского края в контексте современной миграционной ситуации [Krasnodar Krai Armenians in the context of the recent migration situation]" (PDF) (in Russian). Noravank Foundation. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
  31. Կրասնոդարի երկրամասում 500 հազար հայ է բնակվում. Armenpress (in Armenian). 20 January 2003. Retrieved 30 September 2013.
  32. Կրասնոդարի հայերի գլխավոր խնդիրը հայապահպանությունն է, ասում է համայնքի ղեկավարը. PanARMENIAN.Net (in Armenian). 8 June 2012. Retrieved 30 September 2013.
  33. "В России проживает более 2,5 млн армян [Over 2.5 million Armenians live in Russia]" (in Russian). RIA Novosti. 15 December 2003. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
  34. Сочинская Городская Администрация (2002 г.) (in Russian). Retrieved 30 September 2013.
  35. Schreck, Carl (5 May 2006). "Sochi's Armenian Diaspora Weeps". The Moscow Times. Archived from the original on 30 May 2014. With 125,000 ethnic Armenians in Sochi, out of a total of 400,000 people...
  36. (in Russian) НАСЕЛЕНИЕ КРАСНОДАРСКОГО КРАЯ
  37. Коновалова, Евгения (February 12, 2007). Армяне на Кубани: мигранты или местные жители? (in Russian). ЮГА.ру. Retrieved July 19, 2012.
  38. "People speak Armenian in Armavir". A1plus. January 25, 2011. Retrieved July 19, 2012.
  39. (in Russian) Армянское культурное общество «Луйс»
  40. Amo Elyan
  41. Alexei Sisakian
  42. President ARB

Bibliography
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