The aftermath of the war in Ukraine, which is not talked about much: Putin sends Russians into exile – Topky.sk

Tens of thousands of Russians have fled to Istanbul since last month, when Russia invaded Ukraine, The New York Times reported. They were driven out of the country by outrage over what they considered a criminal war, fears of forced conscription, fear of closing Russia’s borders, or fears that their livelihood at home was no longer viable. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Tens of thousands more have traveled to countries such as Armenia, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, from where migrants usually flow in the opposite direction. Several-hour queues formed at the land border with Latvia, which was only open to European visa holders. The Russians feel hopeless The world is concentrating on the departure of about 2.7 million Ukrainians from their war-torn country, which has provoked an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. But many Russians feel hopeless and desperate for their own future because of Russia’s fall into the new depths of authoritarianism. And this is the driving force behind the escape, which some compare to 1920. At that time, more than 100,000 opponents of the Communist Bolsheviks went to seek refuge in what was then Constantinople during the Russian Civil War. Some of those who fled are bloggers, journalists or activists who feared arrest under a new Russian law prosecuting what the state considers “false information” about the war. Others are musicians and artists who do not see the future in their profession in Russia. And there are employees in the technology, legal and other industries, whose day-to-day prospects for a comfortable middle-class life have been dashed. Photo gallery (4) People are waiting in front of a bank in Moscow
Source: SITA / AP Photo / Victor Berzkin They also took our past. They left behind work, family and money stuck in Russian bank accounts, to which they no longer have access. They are afraid that people abroad will look at them from above because they are Russians. And they are lamenting the loss of a positive Russian identity. “They didn’t just take our future,” says Moscow playwright Polina Borodin. “They took our past, too.” The speed and extent of the escape of the Russian population reflects the enormous shift that has taken place since the invasion of Russia began. Despite all the repression by President Vladimir Putin, until last month Russia remained a place with extensive travel links to the rest of the world, mostly uncensored internet providing a platform for independent media, a thriving technology industry and a world-class art scene. Products of Western brands for the middle class were widely available – Ikea furniture, Starbucks coffee and affordable foreign cars. But when they woke up on February 24, many Russians knew it was all over. Dmitry Aleskovsky, a journalist who had been promoting the emerging Russian culture of charitable giving for years, got in the car the next day and left for Latvia. “It was very clear that if he crossed this red line, nothing would stop him,” Aleskovsky said of Putin. “Things will only get worse.” Photo gallery (4) Vladimir Putin
Source: SITA / Yuri Kochetkov / Pool Photo via AP, File In the days after the invasion, Putin forced the remnants of the Russian independent media to close down. He ordered brutal crackdowns on anti-war protesters; more than 14,000 people have been arrested across the country since february 24, according to the human rights group OVD-Info. Of course, many Russians support the war, and many of these supporters are unaware of the extent of Russian aggression because they rely on state television news. However, others flock to cities such as Istanbul, which, like in 1920, has once again become a refuge for exiles. While most of Europe has closed its airspace, Turkish Airlines flies from Moscow up to five times a day; together with other airlines, more than thirty flights arrive from Russia on some days. They must start from scratch And the new generation of Russian exiles is now struggling with the daunting prospect of starting from scratch. At the same time, they all face the harsh reality of the citizens of the country that started the aggressive war, although many of them insist that they have spent their entire lives in opposition to Putin. In Georgia, where, according to the government, 20,000 Russians have arrived since the start of the war, exiles face an intimidating environment full of anti-Russian graffiti and hostile comments on social media. “We tried to explain that the Russians are not Putin – we also hate Putin,” said Lejla Nepesova, an activist from the International Memorial NGO known for exposing the crimes of communism and Stalinism in the former Soviet Union, which the Kremlin recently abolished. Twenty-six-year-old Nepešová fled to Georgia a week ago and found out that she would not get rid of her connections with Russia. She was cursed at the street and a taxi driver shouted at her. “He said, ‘You are Russians, you are occupiers,'” she said. “They hate Russians here – and I can’t be surprised.” Photo gallery (4) Source: pixabay.com Many Georgians see clear parallels between the invasion of Ukraine and the Russian war against Georgia in 2008. And while most have welcomed newcomers, some do not distinguish between Russian dissidents who fled Russia from security or moral reasons, and those who support Putin. Some Russians in exile are trying to organize mutual help and trying to face anti-Russian sentiments. Thirty-seven-year-old journalist Aleskovsky is said to have cried for the first five days and suffered from panic attacks. “Then I recovered and realized I had to do what I knew,” he said. Together with several colleagues, he organizes an initiative called “OK Russians” to help those who have been forced to leave or are trying to do so, and to create media content in English and Russian. Khodorkovsky Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky, an oil tycoon in exile who spent ten years in prison in Russia, also helps fund a project called Kovcheg (Ark), which provides accommodation in Istanbul and Yerevan and is looking for psychologists capable of providing emotional support. He has received about 10,000 questions since he started Thursday. When Irina Lobanovska, the company’s director of marketing for an artificial intelligence company, set up an emigration chat group in the Telegram messaging application, she started with ten people exchanging tips on visas and work permits. The group now has more than 106,000 members. “I am a midwife who fled Moscow with her almost eighteen-year-old son,” one woman wrote, seeking advice for paramedics in exile. “We are sitting in Prague and trying to figure out how to live on.”