Reportage
Russians exiled in Armenia fight to help loved ones flee
Audio 01:17
A Russian arrives at Zvartnots International Airport, near Yerevan, on September 22, 2022, the day after the announcement of partial mobilization in Russia.
© Hayk Baghdasaryan, AP
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
Russia announced Thursday, September 29 to annex four regions of Ukraine.
In Armenia, the Russian exiles who arrived last week fear that this is the first step towards a general mobilization.
From Yerevan, the capital, they help each other to try to bring their relatives, still stuck in Russia, but the task becomes more and more difficult with the closing of borders, even to those with a tourist visa.
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With our correspondent in Yerevan,
Manon Chapelain
In a trendy café in Yerevan, around
twenty Russian exiles
are gathered around a drink.
They reflect together on solutions for their relatives who remained in Russia to join them.
Sergeï is a developer and arrived last week.
“
I am very worried that my friends will be sent to war, I try to help them with my computer skills.
Plane tickets are too expensive for them, so I inquire about the safest border crossing points.
For the past few days, there have been border guards who no longer let men pass.
»
Sergeï is sure of it, the general mobilization is coming soon.
He fears that the Russian borders will close at any moment: “
We can no longer predict anything over more than 24 hours.
Friends have for example bought plane tickets to leave on October 1st.
But they don't know what will happen in Russia by then.
»
Iglia was a theater director in Saint Petersburg.
He knows many people still stuck there: “
Most of them want to leave, but they can't because life is too expensive outside of Russia.
They are afraid of not being able to earn any more money if they leave, and do not know where to settle.
There are
n't many countries that are accepting Russians
, and that's the main problem for us now.
When I think of them, it scares me, it makes me nervous and depressed.
»
►Also read:
Is a popular uprising possible in Russia?
"Closing the borders to Russians who want to flee" is playing "Putin's game"
At least 260,000 Russians have fled since the announcement of the partial mobilization in Ukraine.
In recent months, they were already 70,000 to have chosen Armenia.
After Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, Finland also announced Thursday the closure of its borders to Russian citizens with tourist visas.
For Boris, a Muscovite exiled in Armenia, it is a new sanction difficult to digest.
He calls for
more solidarity with Russians fleeing the war
.
When I lived in Russia, I was very inspired by the values of the European Union.
I said to myself, one day we too will be able to build such a beautiful and free society.
But when I see such discrimination, especially coming from institutions, it makes me really sad.
It's a real disappointment.
By doing this, they are shooting themselves in the foot and playing into Putin's hands.
This supports his rhetoric, which is to repeat in Russia that the West preaches equality, but in reality they hate Russians.
That their companies are supposedly better, but that's just a facade.
And it is partly thanks to this speech that Putin avoided big uprisings in Russia.
The message sent by countries that close their borders to Russians who want to flee is "stay in Russia,
enlist in the Russian army and wage war in Ukraine”.
It's completely crazy and ridiculous.
"Closing the borders to Russians who want to flee" is playing "Putin's game", by Marion Chapelain
►Also read:
Russians trapped in war
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