Politixia
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- The Huffman family emigrated from Texas to Russia in March because their old home was too woke and they felt threatened by the LGBTQ+ community, among other things.
- The family moved to an “American Village” in Istra, not far from Moscow, and caused quite a stir in the Russian press.
- The committed Christians document their new life on YouTube.
- The father of the family, Derek, ends up in the army: instead of working in a repair squad, he is sent to the front.
- Derek survives and becomes a Russian citizen in November, but soon has to go back to war.
A family – the parents and three children – moves from Texas to near Moscow in March. In May, the father joins the Russian army. They promptly send him to the front in the Ukraine. He survives – and is now a Russian citizen. But first things first.
What drives this quintet from the USA to Eastern Europe? Derek Huffman explains in a YouTube video on March 9 that his desire to leave “started a few years ago”. One reason for this is the “LGBTQ indoctrination of children”.
“You can’t even turn on the TV these days without children’s cartoons talking about sex and gender,” the family man believes. He calls trans people “mentally ill”. Because they are white, they have fewer opportunities in their old homeland. And the food is also unhealthy.
Derek Huffman talks about how much he dislikes the USA.
YouTube/Huffman Time
Two years ago, he took his children out of school and taught them at home. Derek and his wife DeAnna have three grown-up sons aged between 19 and 21 and three daughters aged between 10 and 12. Crime in Houston in Republican Texas also worried him, he says.
“I like the fact that you have to adapt”
Finally, he found out about the “American village in Russia” where “English-speaking Christians” lived. The whole thing is a project initiated by Tim Kirby: The 46-year-old American emigrated to Russia himself and works there for Vladimir Putin’s propaganda. He has also been Russian since 2018.
He visited the country in October 2023 – and fell in love. And now he lives in his new house, says Derek Huffman at the beginning of March. The grown-up sons have stayed in the USA. The three daughters share the master bedroom, the parents occupy the second. There is a bathroom, they still want to extend.
This is what the house in Istra looks like:
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But Derek Huffman is overjoyed. In the USA, many people live in their “bubble”, at most you would find information on X. In Russia, they could now bring up their daughters the way they wanted to. Everything is safe, the streets are clean and the government leaves you alone if you behave yourself. “The strict laws, I like that.”
“I like the fact that you have to adapt,” says Derek. “We are working on assimilating.” But it’s not that easy: the emigrant and his family are the first Westerners in the “American village” – and English is obviously not widely spoken in Istra, which lies 40 kilometers west of Moscow. And Russian is not an easy language, Derek knows.
“Ukraine shoots, kills and persecutes”
The family documents their lives on their YouTube channel. DeAnna realizes that it is cold in their new home. The parents explain to their daughters what Russia’s Victory Day is all about. The family goes out into nature and visits the Moscow Zoo. The US immigrants are a welcome story for the Russian media.
Residence applications from “unfriendly countries” in 2024 according to the Russian authorities
- Germany: 291 people
- Latvia; 151 people
- USA: 127 people
- France: 115 people
- Italy: 105 people
- Estonia: 72 people
- Great Britain: 70 people
- South Korea: 67 people
- Canada: 60 people
- Lithuania: 51 people
And then, on May 26, the 42-year-old says to the camera while two of her daughters sit on the sofa: “Hey girls! Daddy just sent me a photo. He’s signed the contract. It’s official. He signed his contract with the army. Any comments?” “Great, I miss him,” says one of them.
The reason: if Derek joins the army, the family will get Russian citizenship. The girls’ schooling, health insurance and work permit depend on it. “An important role for me is respect and earning our place here in Russia,” says DeAnna.
Bizarre scene with mother and daughters: children, dad joins the army.
YouTube/Huffman Time
He believes in the “Russian cause”, says Derek: “Ukraine is shelling, killing and persecuting its native Russian population, its Russian-speaking citizens.” This is a “just cause”: “They are doing the right thing. The Nazi regime in Ukraine must be stopped.” Kiev was running bio-laboratories. US investors bought land on a grand scale. Everything is corrupt.
“Thrown to the wolves”: Derekt joins the army
Derek can now be seen much less frequently on the YouTube channel. In June, he sends a video greeting to his family on Father’s Day. In July, the Huffmans recorded a phone call with him and posted it online with pictures of the family. The Russian media’s interest in the Huffmans continues unabated.
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DeAnna admits that she has had a relapse – and that her alcohol addiction is threatening to catch up with her. She had hoped her husband would be deployed in the rear because he had no military experience. He is nevertheless stationed at the front.
If the British Telegraph is to be believed, DeAnna says in a video that her husband was assured he would not have to fight. “He feels like he’s being thrown to the wolves and has to rely on his faith, and we all do,” the wife is quoted as saying. However, the clip was then deleted.
New look: One of the daughters celebrates her twelfth birthday in October and is allowed to have her nails done while her mother is filming.
YouTube/Huffman Time
The case is now attracting worldwide media attention – including the Riga-based publication “Meduza “, which is critical of Putin. It is investigating Derek: The 46-year-old is said to have taken a financial oath of disclosure in 2019 and had several run-ins with the law.
“I don’t like the idea of taking lives”
“Meduza” also quotes from the deleted video: “They told him that they could put him in a repair battalion because of his more than ten years as a welder […] but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen,” says DeAnna accordingly. The promised money for joining the army has also not yet been paid.
Derek himself reports on July 26 via audio recording. “For all the people who say that I’m a Christian and yet I joined the army so that I could kill Ukrainians: I don’t like the idea of taking lives. But I do what I think is right.”
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Derek remains in the army for six months before returning to his family in October. “I’m happy to still be alive,” he says. The family can finally buy a car because Russians have donated money for them: The bus only travels through Istra three times a week.
In a video from September 22, the daughters talk about their first day at a Russian private school. Also included: the family dog, who emigrated with the Huffmans.
YouTube/Huffman Time
Life in Russia is tough: DeAnna drives an hour and a half to work every day – there and back. The girls have been attending a private school since September.
“I can’t understand all this hate”
Derek reaps the rewards of his bloody work: he receives his Russian citizenship and emphasizes that he is proud to have served in Putin’s army.
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And to continue serving: He has to return to his unit soon. But he is happy, he says. The father is certain that his daughters are happy, safe and have already made lots of friends. Education is better in Russia, the standard of living is much better and everything is much cheaper.
“It feels like we’ve found our place in the world,” says Derek. “You know, I can’t understand all this hate. If you’ve never been here, you don’t know it. It’s crazy how people turn on you because you believe in something else.”
Can Americans really find new happiness in Russia? It’s possible, of course – if Derek doesn’t get shot at the front or one of the daughters develops a love for women.
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