Kremlin adviser Modest Kolerov told Interfax on July 1 that more than 1 million Russians, most of them \"professionals\" currently living in unspecified countries that are undergoing \"a socioeconomic crisis,\" plan to take advantage of the repatriation program announced by President Putin on June 26. That program guarantees benefits and support for persons who agree to settle in border regions in the Far East. Returnees will also be permitted to settle in regions where the population is declining rapidly, or where major investment programs are under way. In Primorsky Krai, the authorities are already allocating land for repatriates to settle, while in Irkutsk, Governor Aleksandr Tishanin said on June 29 that the oblast is ready to house in 2007 up to 1.5 million ethnic Russians from former Soviet republics who wish to settle in the Russian Federation. (RFE/RL)