During 1979-88, Russia gained 1,747,040 people through net migration from other Soviet republics. Germany took in 156,299 former Soviet Germans in 1991. As of May, 1996, there were still 75,000 internally displaced persons from the Chernobyl accident in 1986. Following the military conflicts in Chechnya of 1994, 220,000 people fled to the neighboring republics of Daghestan, Ingushetia, and North Ossetia. Between 1989-95, 169,000 Russians returned from Azerbaijan, and 296,000 returned from Kyrgyzstan. Between 1991-95, 50,000 Russians returned from Belarus; 614,000 returned from Kazakhstan; and 300,000 from Tajikistan. In 1991, 400,000 returned from Uzbekistan, and 100,000 returned from Turkmenistan from 1993-95. As reported in 2005 by the US Department of State, Russia is a major source of women trafficked globally for the purpose of sexual exploitation. It is also a significant destination and transit country for persons trafficked for sexual and labor exploitation from regional and neighboring countries into Russia, and on to the Gulf states, Europe, Asia, and North America. In addition, the International Labour Organization estimated that of the five million illegal immigrants in Russia, 20% are victims of forced labor. Trafficking of children and of child sex tourism is also reported. Internal trafficking from rural to urban areas remained a problem.

As of 1999, there were 400 refugees, 10,000 asylum seekers, 173,000 internally displaced people (mainly from Chechnya and Ingushetia), and an estimated 3.5-4 million forced migrants. By the end of 2004, there were 1,852 refugees, 315 asylum seekers, 54 returned refugees, mainly from the surrounding former Soviet states. In addition, there were 334,796 internally displaced persons, which included 100,000 Afghans in a refugee-like situation, 73,004 forced migrants, 10,755 Meskhetians, and 5,177 non-CIS asylum seekers.

In 2005, the net migration rate was an estimated 1.03 migrants per 1,000 population. Remittances reported for 2003 were $300 million.