Imagine moving to a country you’ve never been to before, with a culture you have no knowledge of and with a language you’re unable to speak. You’re with your whole family, including three children. And your new home, not your old one, is at war with its neighbour.
Well, that’s exactly what the Hare family did, who relocated to Russia from the United States two years ago because they felt “persecuted”.
“We were noticing a great upsurge in LGBT-type policies coming into the government, especially the school system,” Leo Hare says.
“This is where we drew a line in the sand,” his wife Chantelle adds. “This is a complete demonic attack against the conservative Christian families.”
The devout Christians, who have three sons aged 17, 15 and 12, describe themselves as “moral migrants”.
I’m chatting to them at their apartment in Ivanovo, a city 150 miles from Moscow. It’s a big change from Texas, where the family lived on a farm and had their own shooting range.
But in a country where so-called “LGBT propaganda” is banned, they say they feel safer than before.
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“There are laws that say: ‘no you can’t just run wild and have gay pride parades and dance in front of all the children’. You can’t do this. I like this,” Leo tells me.
The family was granted asylum last year in a ceremony that was covered on state TV. But as unusual as their story may sound, the Hares aren’t the only ones who have turned to Russia in search of sanctuary.
According to the latest figures from Russia’s interior ministry, 2,275 Westerners have applied for a new shared values visa, which was introduced by Vladimir Putin last August.
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It’s aimed at those who think the West has become too woke.
Citizens from countries Russia considers unfriendly (which includes Britain, the US and most of the EU) are offered a three-year residency permit without meeting any language requirements or skills criteria.
On the ninth floor of a skyscraper in Moscow’s financial district, a group of adults are holding pens in their mouths and making strange noises.
We’re observing a Russian language class that’s been put on by an expat club to help its members integrate into the local society.
Among those with the bit between their teeth is Philip Port from Burnley.
He runs a visa agency for those going in the opposite direction – Russians to the UK – and has been coming to Russia on and off for 20 years. He says he applied for the Shared Values visa for both practical and ideological reasons.
“I love Russia,” he tells me unapologetically, describing it as “safe as houses”.
“There’s no crime, the streets are clean, it’s well-developed,” he adds.
His view of the UK is nowhere near as complimentary.
“I’m all for gay rights, don’t get me wrong, but I think when they’re teaching them to children in school – I’ve got a seven-year-old son, I don’t want him being influenced in that way.”
It’s unclear how many British nationals have migrated to Russia under the shared values visa, but Philip Hutchinson, whose company Moscow Connect helps Westerners apply for the pathway, says he receives between 50 and 80 inquiries a week from the UK.
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“There’s a huge amount of people that are frustrated by the way the country’s got in,” he tells me. “Taxes keep going up and up and up. And we’re giving all this money to Ukraine.”
Mr Hutchinson stood as a candidate for the Conservative Party in last year’s local elections in Britain.
He moved to Moscow earlier this year after his Russian wife was unable to obtain a UK visa, bucking a trend that saw most Western expats flee Russia after its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
I ask him if the war bothers him or his clients.
“It doesn’t,” he answers without hesitation. “As far as I’m concerned, I’m not getting involved in that. You know, I’m not here to deal with politics.”
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But is politics at play here?
After arriving in Russia, many of the “ideological immigrants” post slick videos on social media about how wonderful their new life is.
One prominent American blogger called Derek Huffman, who moved to Russia with his family from Arizona, has even joined the Russian army to fight in Ukraine.
It’s the perfect PR for a country that markets itself as a beacon of conservative values, and as the antidote to moribund, Western liberalism. But Russia insists it’s not running a recruitment campaign.
“We don’t give any social security guarantee or any free housing,” says Maria Butina, the Russian lawmaker spearheading the shared values programme.
“People come on their own with their own money, own families, at their own expense.”
Not everyone’s had a positive experience, though. The Hares say they were scammed out of $50,000 (£38,200) by the family who initially put them up when they arrived in Russia.
And their two oldest sons have returned to America, because of problems finding a school. The family weren’t aware that children are required to speak Russian to be eligible for a state education.
So, do they regret moving here?
“Moving so fast? Probably,” Leo admits.
“At times though, your pathway in life takes you places you wouldn’t have willingly gone. But through God and providence you’re meant to go through this.”
