The Russian community in Bolivia is interesting for two main reasons. First, it emerged not in the 1990s, but in the 19th century. Second, unlike other countries in Latin America, Russians in Bolivia have hardly undergone assimilation. Although they are citizens of Bolivia, they consider Russia their homeland, even though they have never seen it, not even on television, as they do not favor televisions and the internet.

The first Russian settlements appeared in Bolivia in the 1880s. Old Believers, attracted by the presence of co-religionists and the remoteness from civilization, began to migrate there from other South American countries such as Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay. In the 1950s and 1960s, a significant number of Old Believers moved to Bolivia from China after the Maoists came to power.

The Old Believers settled in remote areas of the departments of La Paz, Santa Cruz, Cochabamba, and Beni. This, along with rare marriages with the local indigenous population, helped them preserve the Russian language and culture better than other Russian communities in America. Their names are old Russian ones, such as Mamelfa, Agapit, Kiprian, Inafa, Elizar.

All of them engage in agriculture, living off the sale of their produce. On Sundays, they rest and attend church. This resembles a Russian village from the late 19th century, but instead of fields with birches, they are surrounded by the Bolivian jungle, and instead of growing turnips and cabbage, they cultivate bananas and pineapples.