Answer your friend who maintains that (1) countries in Caucasus and Central Asia are no longer dependent on the Russian economy anymore after the collapse of the Soviet Union (Tables 1 and 2), (2) high cost of money transfer requires visits of migrant workers to their countries for helping financially their relatives. I (3) Russia puts barriers to citizens former Soviet Union Republics, (4) remittances show high-quality workers coming from the countries in Caucasus and Central Asia, also showing the high living standards of these home countries. (5) and the coronavirus outbreak did not affect largely these high-quality workers due their working from their homes in their new countries. Remittances as a Share of GDP in 2019 Cost of 200 S Transfer (in %) Remittances from Russia as a Percentage of Total Remittances (2017) 2008 2012 1.9 Kyrgyzstan Tajikistan Georgia Armenia Uzbekistan Azerbaijan Kazakhstan 29 % 28 % 14 % 11% 7% 2% 0.3% 77% 76 % 59% 64% 100 % 58% 64% 2.1 3.3 2.7 2.4 2 2.4 1.7 2.2 2.4 2.8 2016 1.7 1.8 1.4 1.8 1.8 1.4 1.5 2020 1.4 1.8 1.2 1.9 1.8 1.0 1.6 3.2 3.0 Answer your friend who maintains that (1) countries in Caucasus and Central Asia are no longer dependent on the Russian economy anymore after the collapse of the Soviet Union (Tables 1 and 2), (2) high cost of money transfer requires visits of migrant workers to their countries for helping financially their relatives. I (3) Russia puts barriers to citizens former Soviet Union Republics, (4) remittances show high-quality workers coming from the countries in Caucasus and Central Asia, also showing the high living standards of these home countries. (5) and the coronavirus outbreak did not affect largely these high-quality workers due their working from their homes in their new countries. Remittances as a Share of GDP in 2019 Cost of 200 S Transfer (in %) Remittances from Russia as a Percentage of Total Remittances (2017) 2008 2012 1.9 Kyrgyzstan Tajikistan Georgia Armenia Uzbekistan Azerbaijan Kazakhstan 29 % 28 % 14 % 11% 7% 2% 0.3% 77% 76 % 59% 64% 100 % 58% 64% 2.1 3.3 2.7 2.4 2 2.4 1.7 2.2 2.4 2.8 2016 1.7 1.8 1.4 1.8 1.8 1.4 1.5 2020 1.4 1.8 1.2 1.9 1.8 1.0 1.6 3.2 3.0