This resulted in increased Ukrainian immigration to Russia, initially to Sloboda Ukraine but also to the Don lands and the area of the Volga river.

There was a significant migration to Moscow, particularly by church activists, priests and monks, scholars and teachers, artists, translators, singers, and merchants.

Many priests and church administrators migrated from Ukraine; in particular, Ukrainian clergy established the Andreyevsky Monastery,[3] which influenced the Russian Orthodox Church, in particular the reform policies of Patriarch Nikon which led to the Old Believer Raskol (English: schism).

After the abolishment of the Patriarch's chair by Peter I, Ukrainian Stephen Yavorsky became Metropolitan of Moscow, followed by Feofan Prokopovich.

By 1750, over 125 such institutions were opened, and their graduates practically controlled the Russian church, obtaining key posts through to the late 18th century.

Under Prokopovich, the Russian Academy of Sciences was opened in 1724, which was chaired from 1746 by Ukrainian Kirill Razumovsky.

A separate category of emigrants were those deported to Moscow by the Russian government for demonstrating anti-Russian sentiment.

The deported were brought to Moscow initially for investigation, then exiled to Siberia, Arkhangelsk or the Solovetsky Islands.

Among the deported were Ukrainian cossacks including D. Mhohohrishny, Ivan Samoylovych, and Petro Doroshenko.

Beginning in the 19th century, there was a continuous migration from Belarus, Ukraine and Northern Russia to settle the distant areas of the Russian Empire.

[5] The size and geographical area of the Ukrainian settlements were first seen in the course of the Russian Empire Census of 1897, which noted language but not ethnicity.

In the course of the mid-1920s administrative reforms, some territory initially under the Ukrainian SSR was ceded to the Russian SFSR, such as the Taganrog and Shakhty cities in the eastern Donbas.

At the same time, the Ukrainian SSR gained several territories that were amalgamated into the Sumy Oblast in Sloboda region.

In February 2009, about 3.5 million Ukrainian citizens were estimated to be working in the Russian Federation, particularly in Moscow and in the construction industry.

[11] Starting from 2014, a number of Ukrainian activists and organisations were prosecuted in Russia based on political grounds.

[13] As of September 2015[update], there were 2.6 million Ukrainians living in Russia, more than half of them classified as "guest workers".

A million more had arrived in the previous eighteen months[14] (although critics have accused the FMS and media of circulating exaggerated figures[15][16]).

Major destinations for Ukrainian migrants have included Karelia, Vorkuta, Magadan Oblast; oblasts such as Magadan and Yakutia are destinations of a government relocation program since the vast majority avoid big cities like Moscow and Saint Petersburg.

Following the Caucasus War and the subsequent colonisation of the Circaucasus, the Black Sea Cossacks intermixed with other ethnic groups, including the indigenous Circassian population.

This decision was not supported uniformly by the Cossacks themselves, and soon the Rada itself was dissolved by the Russian White Denikin's Volunteer Army.

During Soviet times the main street, Maroseyka, was named after the Ukrainian Cossack hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky.

When Saint Petersburg was the capital during the Russian Empire era, it attracted people from many nations including Ukraine.

The Ukrainian poets Taras Shevchenko and Dmytro Bortniansky spent most of their lives in Saint Petersburg.

Ivan Mazepa, carrying out the orders of Peter I, was responsible for sending many Ukrainians to help build St Petersburg.

[36] According to the 2001 census, there are 87,119 Ukrainians living in the city of St Petersburg, where they constitute the largest non-Russian ethnic group.

[37] The former mayor, Valentina Matviyenko (née Tyutina), was born in Khmelnytskyi Oblast of western Ukraine and is of Ukrainian ethnicity.

This is an area of land settled by Ukrainians which is a part of Far Eastern Siberia, located on the Amur River and the Pacific Ocean.

In addition to Ukrainians, Volga Germans and Mordovians migrated to Zholty Klyn in large numbers.

The society publishes the journal Zoloti Vorota (Золоті Ворота, named for The Golden Gate of Kyiv) and the magazine Ukrainian Diaspora.

There is negative sentiment toward the bulk of migrants from the Caucasus and Central Asia, with Ukrainians relatively trusted by the Russian population.