There are currently many reports of this kind: An activist from the political punk group Pussy Riot left Russia at the weekend after having been released from her second prison sentence of 15 days within a month.
She is not the first opponent of the regime to have chosen this path in the past few months, and she will not be the last.
The intensification of the repression since the beginning of the year confronts many Russians with existential decisions. Anyone who has exposed themselves as an opposition activist must now expect anything. Even those who were not active at all, but donated hundreds of thousands of money to "extremist" organizations, shared posts by Alexej Navalnyj's organizations on social media or linked articles from the online medium Projekt, which was banned last week, can be punished according to the completely arbitrarily applied laws .
Many Russians are faced with the choice of retreating into private life, wiping out the traces of their previous commitment as best they can and perhaps leaving the country (which only very few can do) - or continuing and risking their health and freedom with their eyes wide open. The number of journalists and activists who have not yet been intimidated is impressive. Those who do not have the strength to do so deserve understanding, and those who decide to flee deserve support in the EU.