By Galina Korol | 2026-05-19

Every spring since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a new wave of Russians starts googling "how to leave." This spring, a surprising destination is topping the search results: Belarus.

According to the Russian search engine Yandex's keyword tracker Wordstat, queries about emigrating reached about 40,000 in March 2026 -- double the January figure of 19,600. The numbers haven't matched the panic-driven peak of 56,000 searches in March 2022. But observers say this wave is more sustained.

Belarus alone drew more than 20,000 searches in recent weeks. For a growing number of Russians, it checks every box: no language barrier, affordable services, easier legal status. Most importantly, it has Telegram, still blocked in Russia.

A subsidiary of Moscow

A blogger from Volgograd, who asked not to be identified by name for safety reasons, told Kontur her family is actively weighing a move.

"The situation is getting worse every year. It's getting scary. So we're thinking about leaving while we still can," she said, adding that drone strikes now hit her city regularly.

She called Belarus the "simple" option and said remote work makes it viable.

"Many people have advised me that if I move, I should only do it if I get Russian pay," she said. "In that regard it's a little easier for us because we have remote jobs."

The interest has not gone unnoticed in Minsk. On the social media platform Threads, a Russian blogger with the handle razumovskaya_beauty suggested that "all of Moscow move to Minsk and set up a subsidiary of Moscow there with Zara and Telegram." The post drew thousands of views and a wave of hostile comments, many from Belarusians.

"How about we keep Minsk as Minsk?" read one typical response. Others were harsher, fearing not the migrants themselves but the social attitudes they might bring -- a view of Belarus as a "convenient playground," and the risk that the Kremlin would follow its citizens under the pretext of protecting them.

"There's misery and devastation wherever you are," some commenters wrote, drawing a direct line between Russian migration and the scenario that played out in Crimea.

Alexei Frantskevich, coordinator of the Belarusian Crisis Center in Lviv and head of the charitable foundation Free Belarus, told Kontur the online backlash reflects a deeper reality.

"When it came to love, in Belarus it was never the case that people truly considered the Russians 'brothers' or a 'brotherly people,'" he said. "This is an ideologically glorified myth."

'Just like Russia but with Telegram'

Ivan Preobrazhensky, a political scientist and expert on Central and Eastern Europe, said the emigration interest is largely driven by lifestyle disruption rather than politics.

"For many people this has become not so much some sort of legal action that restricts their rights, but rather a blow to their routines, and often to their business, which has simply fallen apart," he told Kontur.

Belarus, in that reading, isn't emigration -- it's continuity by another name.

"Belarus is the main choice because it's just like Russia but with Telegram," Preobrazhensky said.

He added that many of those searching are also looking for a place where the war won't follow them.

"They're trying to find a place where no one will ask them about it, where no one will broach the topic with them," he said.

A fictional oasis

The image of Belarus as a gentler, cheaper, more accessible Russia has deep roots, cultivated in part by President Alyaksandr Lukashenka, who has spent years presenting his country as an "island of happiness and prosperity."

Frantskevich said the myth worked for a long time. After the 2020 protests and subsequent crackdown, it should have collapsed. For many Russians, it hasn't.

The reality is different. A Minsk-based real estate agent, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Kontur that Belarusian authorities run a tight surveillance state.

"Almost all foreign media outlets are declared enemy entities here," the agent said. "And for comments you can be put in jail for supposedly cooperating with extremist publications."

KGB agents, the agent added, can show up at any Belarusian's home at any time to conduct a "preventive examination of their devices."

Preobrazhensky said Russians considering Belarus simply don't know this, or don't want to.

"[Russians] don't understand the difference between Russia and Belarus and aren't interested in it. They don't remember what happened in Belarus in 2020," he said.

He also predicts most will stay put. Real estate searches are up, but actual transactions remain rare.

"The Russians are getting the lay of the land rather than buying," he said.

Still, the fact that thousands of people see Minsk as a comfortable version of Moscow says something about where Russian society stands. For a significant share of the population, access to a messaging app now outweighs freedom of speech.