Wednesday, January 4, 2023 | 1:03 p.m.
The English newspaper The Guardian put the magnifying glass on a trend that skyrocketed as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the sanctions to which the citizens of the aggressor country are subject. The conflict generated a boom in “birth tourism” that has Argentina as its main destination due to the ease of traveling to the country, the fact that it does not request a visa and the freedom granted by having a second nationality when moving around the world.
The original note in The Guardian.
Pregnant women choose Argentina to give birth
In an extensive report, the British newspaper cites data from the Russian embassy in the country, to state that in 2022 -the year of the invasion of Ukraine- some 2,500 Russians moved to Argentina. Many of them were pregnant women who chose the country for the birth of their children. The embassy estimates indicate that in 2023 there could be 10,000 arriving in the country, mostly for birth tourism.
Polina Cherepovitskaya, one of the women who came to the country with the aim of giving birth outside of Russia, recounted her surprise to hear that a good part of the women in the waiting room of the Finochietto Sanatorium spoke Russian.
“It was crazy, there were at least eight pregnant Russian women waiting in front of me,” said the Moscow-based jewelry designer.
“I found out that I was pregnant shortly after the war in Ukraine started,” Cherepovitskaya recalled. “When we saw the borders begin to rapidly close around us, we knew we had to find a place we could easily travel to. An Argentine passport will open many doors for my son”, assured the woman.
Birth tourism is not something new in Russian culture. With only 80 countries in the world open without restrictions for Russian citizens, it was common to travel to Miami or other destinations with the aim of obtaining another nationality for children. But that was until Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine and sanctions multiplied around the world. Now, the main destination is Buenos Aires.
The ideal destination for all Russians
Argentina has a history of receiving Russian immigrants: in the late 19th century, many Russian Jews, fleeing poverty and pogroms, sailed across the Atlantic, while a smaller wave of Russians arrived after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. .
In social networks it is commented that there are “increasingly more Russians” in the streets of Buenos Aires. “I have a friend who rented her apartment in Belgrano to a Russian family who came now so that her son would not be taken to war,” commented user @bourbonni. Manuel Beaudroit, CEO and co-founder of Belo, published: “The number of Russians on the streets in Buenos Aires is impressive.”
The amount of Russians suddenly in Buenos Aires…
— AEAQ (@aeaq_) November 16, 2022
