Molokan Refugees in Berezovka, Tula

In the second half of July a [British] Embassy officer, Toni [Tony] Longrigg in the left picture, visited a community of Molokan refugees in the Tula region. In the last century Molokans were sent to Transcaucasia and Central Asia, but recently their descendants started to return to Russia.

This community has about 80 people [90 in 2005], and has 250 hectares [618 acres = 0.97 sq.mi.] of land next in Tula. They started to build their own village named Berezovka ["place of the birch trees"] [Березовские выселки = Berezovskie settlement, Kamenskie region]. Helping the refugees is one of the most serious problems for the Russian government. The British government tries to help the Russian government. Not long before the his visit, the Molokan community received farm machinery valued at £4,000 [$5,750] from the British fund Know How.

Molokans thanked the British officers for their aid in Berezovka. This aid will help them start an independent life in their new place.


British agent Longrigg poses with a Molokan woman in front of a tractor which probably
has the donated new Siberian-built motor.
With a reliable tractor this village seems to have built their own church shown below.

From a story in Russian posted by the British Embassy. (No longer posted)

See a story posted earlier of an un-named village in Tula, which seems to be Berezovka.

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