On the same day that Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that his country had launched an offensive against Ukraine, Sergei* boarded a plane bound for the West, leaving his native St. Petersburg. After three weeks of war, Sergei, along with tens of thousands of his compatriots, is coming to terms with the fact that he may never come home.
Sergei left his home – and his life – in Saint Petersburg on February 24. “I literally left on the first day of the war,” the Russian freelancer told France 24 in English, via encrypted message and from a location he prefers not to reveal for the time being. “Because the (Putin’s) regime changes things every hour,” he explained, pointing to the series of laws the Russian Duma is currently pushing through to silence any dissenting voices.
Sergei describes himself as a “normal” and discreet Russian. Unlike his elderly father and consumer of state television, he is strongly opposed to Vladimir Putin and the war in Ukraine.
“I have been against Putin since he came (to the political front line) 22 years ago,” he said, denouncing the autocrat’s total lack of respect for human rights. “And I hate this unjust war against our Ukrainian brothers.”
“My father,” he said, “lives in a completely different world and believes that the Russian Army is saving Ukrainians from neo-Nazis. It’s complete nonsense. I can’t talk to him about any kind of politics.”
“Who wants their children to grow up in a country like this?”
Sergei had initially planned to go abroad for work this spring, but as rumors of an imminent invasion of Ukraine grew, he decided to move up the departure date.
“I decided to fly urgently because I was afraid that the situation would get really difficult very quickly and the borders would be closed,” he explained.
Events have proved him right. Within days, the European Union closed its airspace to Russia. The only way for Russian citizens to reach the West by air is now through Serbia, Turkey, China or the United Arab Emirates, with exorbitantly priced tickets.
Sergei has been away from his wife and children for more than three weeks now, and although his plane ticket indicates that he will return home soon, he increasingly doubts that he will.
“I’ve started working to get my family out,” he admitted. “For the last 20 years I have never wanted to leave St. Petersburg. I love my city and Russian culture very much. I am a great patriot. But it is starting to look like it is becoming another North Korea or Iran, and who wants their children grow up in a country like this?”
Sergei is not the only one harboring these feelings. “I have several friends who have already left or are talking about leaving,” he said.
According to a March 8 estimate by Konstantin Sonin, a Russian political economist at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy, more than 200,000 Russians may have left their homeland since Russia began its war in Ukraine on February 24. However, due to a lack of new figures, it is unclear how many more Russians have followed suit since then.
Armenian gov’t gave a number of 80K there; Greater Tbilisi said 20-25K there. There were more flights to Istanbul than to Yerevan each day, and on larger plans. Plus Tel Aviv, Almaty, Bishkek + tiny, but constant stream via Estonia, Latvia, and Finland. So, 200K is a lower bound.
— Konstantin Sonin (@k_sonin) March 8, 2022
Are you listening to the FSB?
Although Sergei has only been away for a short time, he said that life in Russia has been drastically changed by the comments he receives from family and friends. “The ruble has lost half its value, and prices have risen on everything imported from the West, such as smartphones, washing machines and cars, which are now 30-40% more expensive.”
But the worst, according to him, is the repression exerted by the Putin regime, each day more suffocating.
“A year ago I went to march in support of (Kremlin critic) Alexei Navalny. Back then, as a first offender, you risked a small fine and, if you were unlucky, up to 30 days in jail. Many more (people) are arrested every day, and as a repeat offender you risk receiving a year’s salary in fines – at least – and up to 15 years in prison. You can be beaten and tortured. Some heroic people still speak out, but I’m afraid that I’m not that brave.”
“And you’ve probably heard of the new law that makes it a crime to even call war ‘war,’ right?” he asked, referring to the Kremlin’s March 4 bill that has made it illegal to refer to the war of Russia against Ukraine as more than just a carefully crafted “special military operation.” Anyone who breaks the law risks heavy fines and up to 15 years in prison.
“But it’s a war!” lamented Sergei, noting that although he does not consider himself a political activist at all, he and his anti-war Russian friends prefer to stay on the safe side and now take extra precautions when communicating with each other. Just in case.
“I don’t think anyone is interested in listening to what I talk about with my friends, at least not yet. But that could change quickly,” he said. “So we no longer call each other on the landline and use different (encrypted) messaging apps like WhatsApp and Telegram. People say that these apps are not monitored by the (Russian intelligence service) FSB, but who knows?”
Worrying stories from home
“A friend of a friend of mine was very open about his anti-war sentiment in the first week of the war. He posted a lot of anti-war material on his Facebook page and stuff like that, and then (FSB agents) went to his house and questioned him. I don’t know what happened next.”
Since the beginning of March, most social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are no longer accessible in Russia, after the government first moved to restrict and censor them, and when that failed, eventually blocked them.
“But you can still access social networks through a VPN. Most of my friends have installed it,” says Sergei, explaining that the location-cloaking technology also allows them to access independent and international news for information. of what is really happening, both in Ukraine and in your country.
“And recently I read that Russians who leave are stopped at passport control and asked about their political attitude in the current situation. And then they have to open their phones and show their Facebook accounts, etc.” It’s really scary,” he said.
But Sergei’s biggest fear if he were to return home would be being drafted into fighting a war he doesn’t support at all. Putin recently declared that no Russian conscripts would be sent to fight in Ukraine, but Sergei finds it hard to believe him.
“Now it is quite clear: he wants to recreate the Russian empire as much as possible,” he said. “If Putin feels that the war is not going his way, I think he will send recruits. I have done my military service, so they could send me. I would hate to fight the Ukrainians, who I deeply support. I hate this war.”
*Your name has been changed for security reasons
*This article has been adapted from its original in English.
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