Colonial era Russian America (1733–1867) , est. in 1812 in present-day
Sonoma County,
California. The territory that today is the U.S. state of Alaska was settled by Russians and controlled by the
Russian Empire; Russian settlers include Slavic Russians but also Russified Ukrainians, Russified Romanians (from Bessarabia), and
Indigenous Siberians, including
Yupik,
Mongolic peoples,
Chukchi,
Koryaks,
Itelmens, and
Ainu.
Georg Anton Schäffer of the
Russian-American Company built three forts in
Kauai,
Hawaii. The southernmost such post of the Russian American Company was
Fort Ross, established in 1812 by
Ivan Kuskov, some north of
San Francisco, as an
agricultural supply base for Russian America. It was part of the Russian-America Company, and consisted of four outposts, including Bodega Bay, the Russian River, and the Farallon Islands. There was never an established agreement made with the government of
New Spain which produced great tension between the two countries. Spain claimed the land but had never established a colony there. The well-armed Russian fort prevented Spain from removing the Russians living there. Without the Russians' hospitality, the Spanish colony would have been abandoned because their supplies had been lost when Spanish supply ships sank in a large storm off the South American coast. After the
independence of Mexico, tensions were reduced and trade was established with the new government of
Mexican California. Russian America was not a profitable colony because of high transportation costs and the declining animal population. After it was
purchased by the United States in 1867, most Russian settlers went back to Russia, but some resettled in southern Alaska and California. Included in these were the first miners and merchants of the
California gold rush. All descendants of Russian settlers from Russian Empire, including mixed-race with partial
Alaska Native blood, totally assimilated to the American society. Most Russians in Alaska today are descendants of Russian settlers who came just before, during, and/or after Soviet era; two thirds of the population of town of Alaska named
Nikolaevsk are descendants of recent Russian settlers who came in the 1960s.
Immigration to the US First wave (1870–1915) in
Cleveland, est. in 1896. The first massive wave of immigration from all areas of Europe to the United States took place in the late 19th century. Although some immigration took place earlier—the most notable example being
Ivan Turchaninov, who immigrated in 1856 and became a United States Army
brigadier general during the Civil War—millions traveled to the New World in the last decade of the 19th century, either for political reasons, economic opportunity, or some combination of both. Between 1820 and 1870 only 7,550 Russians immigrated to the United States, but starting in 1881, the immigration rate exceeded 10,000 a year: 593,700 in 1891–1900, 1.6 million in 1901–1910, 868,000 in 1911–1914, and 43,000 in 1915–1917. and
Portland, Oregon;
Pennsylvania, and New York. Because of the upheavals of World War I, immigration dwindled between 1914 and 1917. But after the war, hundreds of thousands of Jews began leaving Europe and Russia again for the US, modern-day Israel and other countries where they hoped to start a new life.
Second wave (1916–1922) A large wave of Russians immigrated in the short time period of 1917–1922, in the wake of
October Revolution and
Russian Civil War. This group is known collectively as the
White émigrés. The US was the third largest destination for those immigrants, after France and Serbia. This wave is often referred to as the first wave, when discussing Soviet era immigration. The head of the
Russian Provisional Government,
Alexander Kerensky, was one of those immigrants. , 1910s. Since the immigrants were of the higher classes of the
Russian Empire, they contributed significantly to American science and culture. Inventors
Vladimir Zworykin, often referred to as "father of television",
Alexander M. Poniatoff, the founder of
Ampex, and
Alexander Lodygin, arrived with this wave. The US military benefited greatly with the arrival of such inventors as
Igor Sikorsky (who invented the practical
Helicopter),
Vladimir Yourkevitch, and
Alexander Procofieff de Seversky.
Sergei Rachmaninoff and
Igor Stravinsky are by many considered to be among the greatest composers ever to live in the United States of America. The novelist
Vladimir Nabokov, the violinist
Jasha Heifetz, and the actor
Yul Brynner also left Russia in this period. As with first and second wave, if the White émigré left Russia to any country, they were still considered first or second wave, even if they ended up moving to another country, including the US at a later time. There was no 'strict' year boundaries, but a guideline to have a better understanding of the time period. Thus, 1917-1922 is a guideline. There are Russians who are considered second wave even if they arrived after 1922 up to 1948.
Soviet era (1922–1991) (born Pashkovsky) commanded the
Alsos Mission during World War II During the
Soviet era, emigration was prohibited and limited to very few defectors and
dissidents who immigrated to the
United States and other
Western Bloc countries for political reasons. Immigration to the U.S. from Russia was also severely restricted via the
National Origins formula introduced by the U.S. Congress in 1921. The chaos and depression that plagued Europe following the conclusion of World War II drove many native Europeans to immigrate to the United States. After the war, there were about 7 million displaced persons ranging from various countries throughout continental Europe. Of these 7 million, 2 million were Russian citizens that were sent back to the USSR to be imprisoned, exiled, or even executed having been accused of going against their government and country. Roughly 20,000 Russian citizens immigrated to the United States immediately following the conclusion of the war. Following the war, tensions between the United States and the then Soviet Union began to rise to lead to the USSR placing an immigration ban on its citizens in 1952. or
Svetlana Alliluyeva, daughter of
Joseph Stalin, who left in 1967. Some were diplomats and military personnel who defected to sell their knowledge, such as the pilots
Viktor Belenko in 1976 and
Aleksandr Zuyev in 1989. Following the international condemnation of the Soviet reaction to
Dymshits–Kuznetsov hijacking affair in 1970, the Soviet Union temporarily loosened emigration restrictions for Jewish emigrants, which allowed nearly 250,000 people leave the country, escaping covert antisemitism. Some went to Israel, especially at the beginning, but most chose the US as their destination, where they received the status of
political refugees. This lasted for about a decade, until very early 1980s. Emigrants included the family of
Google co-founder
Sergey Brin, which moved to the US in 1979, citing the impossibility of an advanced scientific career for a Jew. By the 1970s, relations between the USSR and the United States began to improve and the USSR relaxed its emigration ban, permitting a few thousand citizens to emigrate to the United States. As a result, the USSR was pressured into allowing those citizens that wanted to flee the USSR for the United States to do so, with a cap on the number of citizens allowed to leave per year. The Jackson-Vanik amendment made it possible for the religious minorities of the USSR such as Roman-Catholics, Evangelical Christians, and Jews to emigrate to the United States. The slow
Brezhnev stagnation of the 1970s and
Mikhail Gorbachev's following
political reforms since the mid-1980s prompted an increase of economic immigration to the United States, where artists and athletes defected or legally emigrated to the US to further their careers: ballet stars
Mikhail Baryshnikov in 1974 and
Alexander Godunov in 1979, composer
Maxim Shostakovich in 1981, hockey star
Alexander Mogilny in 1989 and the entire
Russian Five later, gymnast
Vladimir Artemov in 1990, glam metal band
Gorky Park in 1987, and many others.
Post-Soviet era (1991–present) With
perestroika, a mass Jewish emigration restarted in 1987. The numbers grew very sharply, leading to the United States forbidding entry to those emigrating from the USSR on Israeli visas starting October 1, 1989. Israel withheld sending visa invitations from the beginning of 1989 claiming technical difficulties. After that the bulk of Jewish emigration went to Israel, nearing a million people in the following decade. However, the conditions for Soviet refugees belonging to several religious minorities—including Jews, Baptists, Pentecostals, and Greek Catholics—were eased by the
Lautenberg Amendment passed in 1989 and renewed annually. Those who could claim family reunion could apply for the direct US visa and were still receiving the
political refugee status in the early 1990s; 50,716 citizens of ex-USSR were granted political refugee status by the United States in 1990, 38,661 in 1991, 61,298 in 1992, 48,627 in 1993, 43,470 in 1994, and 35,716 in 1995, with the trend steadily dropping to as low as 1,394 refugees accepted in 2003. For the first time in history, Russians became a notable part of
illegal immigration to the United States. With the
fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the subsequent transition to free market economy came
hyperinflation and a series of political and economic crises of the 1990s, culminating in the
financial crash of 1998. By mid-1993, between 39% and 49% of Russians were living in
poverty, a sharp increase compared to 1.5% of the late Soviet era. This instability and bleak outcome prompted a large new wave of both political and economic emigration from Russia, with the United States being a major destination, as it was experiencing an unprecedented
stock market boom in 1995–2001. A notable part of the 1991—2001 immigration wave consisted of scientists and engineers escaping an extremely poor job market coupled with the government unwilling to index fixed salaries according to inflation or even to make salary payments on time. This coincided with the
surge of hi-tech industry in the United States, creating a strong
brain drain effect. According to the
National Science Foundation, there were 20,000 Russian scientists working in the United States in 2003, and Russian software engineers were responsible for 30% of
Microsoft products in 2002. outside the Russian Consulate in New York City on February 24, 2022 Fifty-one percent of lawful Russian migrants obtain permanent residence from immediate family member of U.S. citizens, 20% from the Diversity Lottery, 18% through employment, 6% are family sponsored, and 5% are refugee and asylum seekers. The Soviet Union was a sports empire, and many prominent Russian sportspeople found great acclaim and rewards for their skills in the United States. Examples are
Anna Kournikova,
Maria Sharapova,
Alexander Ovechkin,
Alexandre Volchkov, and
Andrei Kirilenko.
Nastia Liukin was born in Moscow, but came to America with her parents as a young child, and developed as a champion gymnast in the US. On 27 September 2022, White House press secretary
Karine Jean-Pierre encouraged Russian men fleeing their home country to avoid being drafted to apply for asylum in the United States. In early 2023, the Biden administration resumed deportations of
Russians who had fled Russia due to
mobilization and
political persecution. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the persecution of Russian citizens who disagree with the policies of Russian leader
Vladimir Putin has increased significantly. For example, in early 2024, ballet dancer
Ksenia Karelina, a dual American-Russian citizen and resident of Los Angeles, was arrested while visiting family in Russia and charged with treason for sending $51.80 to
Razom, a
New York City-based nonprofit organization that sends humanitarian assistance to
Ukraine. She initially faced life in prison, but pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 12 years in prison. In July 2024, Russian-American journalist
Alsu Kurmasheva was sentenced to 6.5 years in prison for
spreading "false information" about Russia's military operations in Ukraine. ==Notable communities==