According to Jonathan Knaus, Regional Vice–President in Eastern Europe & CIS of Western Union, in 2009 the total volume of remittances from Russia reduced by 30%.

He noticed that 2009 was tough enough for the whole industry of remittances. As he said, the East European market for the last 4 — 5 years was growing basically due to remittances from Russia to Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine and to other CIS countries.

Meanwhile, in 2009 the volume of remittances made by migrant laborers to the CIS countries dropped considerably.

RBC