In 2021 the number of road accidents caused by foreign drivers in Russia rose to five thousand, reflecting a year-on-year increase of six percent. A total of 431 people died and 6,709 were injured in these incidents, according to the National Road Safety Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, as cited by TASS. The rise followed a sharp decline in 2020, during which pandemic containment measures reduced the number of foreigners living in the Russian Federation and curtailed travel and traffic levels.
In the recent year, residents of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan were the national groups most frequently involved in traffic accidents in Russia when the driver was a foreign national. The data for 2021 indicate the following counts of accidents linked to specific nationalities:
- Uzbekistan — 1,290
- Kyrgyzstan — 1,092
- Tajikistan — 894
- Armenia — 417
- Azerbaijan — 346
When assessing the severity of consequences from accidents caused by CIS drivers, the highest figures are observed among drivers from Kazakhstan and Belarus, who are not CIS members in this context, with Turkey showing comparatively elevated levels of responsibility among other nationalities mentioned in the data. This overview reflects the broader pattern of foreign drivers contributing to road incidents in Russia and highlights how demographic shifts in population and mobility influence traffic safety dynamics. [Source: National Road Safety Center, Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia]