Meet The Heyers, Americans Who Fled To Russia To Escape 'Moral Decline'

Russia's new policy signed by President Vladimir Putin on Monday allows foreign citizens and stateless individuals to apply for temporary residency in the country if they share “traditional Russian spiritual and moral values,” even in cases when a person does not speak Russian. The decree states that those who oppose the “destructive neoliberal ideological agenda” in their home country can seek “humanitarian support,” or refugee status.

The decree states that those who oppose the “destructive neoliberal ideological agenda” in their home country can seek “humanitarian support” from the Russian authorities by applying for a temporary residence permit.

Source: n1info/The Times

A middle-aged American couple hold up their blue Russian residence permit on camera and express their gratitude to the Kremlin for taking in their family who fled the United States to Moscow. That's the image Russia's Interior Ministry shared with the world, showing native New Yorkers who, they say, escaped America's "moral collapse."

"I feel like me and my family have been put under an arch that provides us with security," Leo Heyer said in a video released by the Russian ministry.

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