Труды Карельского научного центра РАН № 6. 2012. С. 43–47 УДК 314.7 MIGRATION FROM RUSSIA TO EASTERN FINLAND Heikki Eskelinen 1 , Aku Alanen² 1 Karelian Institute University of Eastern Finland ² Statistics Finland This paper investigates the trends and characteristics of Russian immigration between 1990 and 2010, with special attention being paid to the regional distribution of migration patterns. The key question concerns the implications of Russian immigration for the development of border regions and cross-border co-operation. K e y w o r d s : immigration, regional development, Finland, Russia. Хейкки Эскелинен, Аку Аланен. МИГРАЦИЯ ИЗ РОССИИ В ВОСТОЧНУЮ ФИНЛЯНДИЮ В статье исследуются тенденции и характеристики миграции из России в 1990– 2010 гг., особое внимание уделено региональным особенностям структуры мигра- ционных потоков. Рассматривается влияние миграции из России на развитие при- граничных регионов и приграничное сотрудничество. К л ю ч е в ы е с л о в а : иммиграция, региональное развитие, Финляндия, Россия. Introduction The impacts of a change in a border regime on the volume and forms of cross-border interaction, and hence on regional development, are traditional research issues in studies on borders. In Europe, the EU integration process and the opening up of the East-West divide some two decades ago have provided much empirical evidence on these processes. According to mainstream economic theory, the degree of socio-economic integration between border regions is assumed to depend on, firstly, how they are positioned (e.g. in terms of accessibility) in their own institutional and functional environment and, secondly, their population base (and market potential). Many border regions have remained, or turned into, transport corridors, but there are also cases in which the removal of border-related barriers has triggered economic growth processes on both sides of a formerly closed border, and contributed to cross-border regionalization processes (for economic integration of border areas: see Niebuhr & Stiller [2004]). This paper focuses on one specific case of how a change of border regime has facilitated new forms of cross-border interaction and provided potential resources for regional development in peripheral border areas: migration from the Russian Federation to neighboring Finland. The disintegration of the Soviet Union launched this process, and in the Constitution of 1993 freedom for movement was officially granted to Russian citizens giving them the right to move permanently abroad [Heleniak, 2001]. Major differences in income levels between Finland and Russia imply that economic incentives exist for potential migrants. However, it has to be stressed here that in comparison to