Russian Immigrants in Serbia: Integration or Isolation?

It is too early for integration my friend. I am Serb and I know that because of experience of many former Russian generations. 1871 -1878 ; 1917 - 1924 ; 1945 - 1956 ; 2022 - ...........

Everybody should feel welcomed and relaxed in Serbia. Integration is a process, sometimes it's quick, sometimes not, but the most important thing is that I can guarantee that eventually all the Russians who decide to stay in Serbia will somehow integrate. They will find local frends, start speaking Serbian, and put some russian flavour to our culture which is great thing for both sides...

Most russians that have come to serbia that i see are families with children, they are extremely introverted, dont want to integrate, dont even want to talk to anyone unless its necessary. I have seen many times serbian people showing curiosity, and trying to start a conversation with russians, but the reaction is always like "whoaa, why are you trying to talk to me? Who are you, i dont know you,, why are you asking me things?" . I have no idea why is this the case.

Ako ćedu da se integrišedu nek se integrišedu, ako nećedu, ne moradu

Answer is simple. If you young, extravert with desire for new contact, alone, with existential necessity to work with local people integration is simple. If you in middle-older age, married, economicaly independent of local society, widh introvert style of life it is problem. This is true for all nations. Serbs are ready to accept you.

The Russians that have come to Serbia have not come as economic migrants who live on benefits, but are usually highly educated and with decent finances. You have contributed to Serbia's economy and added new knowledge that is often needed. If you were refugees living on benefits, it would have been logical that people required you to learn Serbian in order to find a job and contribute to society. This is however not the case here. Many Russians work in IT and most Serbs in these industries know perfect English. The only short-term problem has been that house prices and rents have gone up for many locals. However, this is positive for owners of real estate and it is the government's responsibility to build more and I have not met any Serb who personally blames the Russians. If you hear some loser online commenting on your poor integration then keep in mind that this is not representative of the population as a whole (the internet is a magnet for assholes). The positive thing about learning Serbian is that it is easier for you to socialize and feel a stronger community with the local people, but you only do that if you feel like it and nobody in Serbia has any moral right to demand anything from you. ▪️From a Serb living in Sweden surrounded by Serbs who refuse to integrate 😂

Its normal to feel lonely in foreign country. Only time will resolve that feeling, you will build your life again, day by day don't worry about it. Just be patient and work. Also, Belgrade is big city, day is short, maybe in a smaller cities you guys would blend in quicker.. Good mannered people are welcome here. Good luck

GREETINGS FROM AUSTRALIA. We all experience the same things . Here in Australia Russians and Serbians have respect for each other.

Very interesting! Good luck there! peace from Poland.

Interesting fact : This is not the first time for Russians to came to Serbia. "Belogardejci"(White Guard soliders) came to Serbia from Russia in years after WW1 . In Sremski Karlovci is a monument of Peter Vrangel (Black Baron) one of the members of White Guard. So you are White Guard 2.0 now 😊.

i think that Russian people add a lot to Serbian society, well mannered educated people are always welcome

100,000 educated urban and young people came to Serbia...Serbia can only be satisfied with that fact...Добро Дошли браћо 😘

It really doesn't matter, you're always welcome, regardless of the reason.

learn our language and you wont feel like that, i have great Russian friends who came not so long ago here and im pretty sure they are doing fine, those who know Serbian are doing even better

In November, I have been traveling Russia for a full month and went all the way to Siberia. I learned the Russian language and went there to see our brotherly country, and just how same or different we are. And I think here lies the answer to why the majority of Russians are not integrating - our cultures are simply too different (the other answer would be, that some are waiting for the war to end, to go home). On the one side, Serbs have had a drastically different picture of ''Who a Russian is''. We are still traditionally oriented towards the picture that Russians are Orthodox-minded oriented people, that they love tradition, Putin, in general, have religious-traditional approach to life. In fact, Russians who came have a much different background and interests and when they learn how we imagine a Russian, topped with big differences in our North/South mentality, openness, culture, etc., I think that most Russians choose not to integrate because of that.

My grandfather was Russian and I adore Russian culture, literature and people. I am sorry to say that Russians that I have encountered are very introverted and private.

It takes a while to integrate into a new country and population. Any migrating group stick together. I migrated to Australia from Serbia. If we didn't have a Sebian community to join, life would have been much harder in the beginning.

I know few Russians who try to learn Serbian language and I respect that a lot. I'd usually talk slow to them and help them out and motivate them to keep integrating. I know they came running from the war and I have a lots of sympathy. Unpleasent truth is that the ones who don't integrate will be isolated and we'll eventually hate them for that. (we don't like having a country within a country). If willing to stay, use our welcoming nature and be our friends, step outside of telegram groups, there's more to see here.

I am Serbian from Serbia, and with most of our people here I have no desire to be friends with 😂. And it is like that everywhere, you end up with very few friends wherever you live.

Братья и сестры из России, добро пожаловать в Сербию, со временем вы привыкнете к новой обстановке. Желаю вам всего наилучшего.