Russians who fled at start of war in Ukraine reluctantly return home | Russia

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When the war started, Olga Gladysheva, a former journalist who now works in video production, joined tens of thousands of other Russians fleeing the country.

“I left for Istanbul in a state of panic soon after the war started. I thought I wouldn’t have another chance to leave, that the borders might close. I didn’t want to stay alone in the country because I saw all my friends leaving. I thought Russia was turning into North Korea,” she said.

But in Turkey, her bank cards were blocked and she could not transfer money home to support her mother in Moscow. She survived by asking favors from friends who had access to funds.

Now, reluctantly, she has returned home. “I came back last week. Frankly, the money is the main reason I had to come back. I have an apartment in Moscow that I was still paying for. I had the option of working remotely but it was not the easiest option and I would earn more here in Moscow. Life was not sustainable for me in Turkey.

As the war in Russia nears its third month with no end in sight, the hasty decisions many Russians have made to flee have hit hard against the harsh realities of emigrating abroad, especially in a time of closed borders and banking sanctions. While many Russians are gone forever, others have been brought back to care for sick relatives, run businesses, keep families together or just to make ends meet.

“It was a real family drama,” said Roman, a tech startup co-founder who returned from Armenia last week. “I thought we should get as far away from Russia as possible. My wife didn’t want to go anywhere and I had to find a compromise. It was a matter of choice: leave Russia without my wife or come back with my wife So I decided to come here with my wife and see what would happen.

Experts say the wave of Russian migration caused by the war is unusual, triggered by rumors of forced mobilization in early March and led by highly skilled workers often traveling to smaller countries. And at least on paper, many have the option of returning for short trips or permanently.

Artem Taganov, the founder of tech startup HintEd, left for Armenia in early March as part of Russia’s tech sector exodus. His partner and investors had urged him to leave the country immediately for fear of forced mobilization, he said, and he had planned to open a new company in Armenia.

But after five weeks in the capital, Yerevan, he had temporarily returned to Moscow for family and professional reasons.

“The idea [in Armenia] was to open a business but it’s on hiatus because I’m waiting for money. My wife and my dog ​​are still in Moscow, my wife cannot leave her job at the moment,” he said. She was working at an institute in partnership with a British arts college that may end its deals in Russia this year. “I’m trying to convince her to move out. And I still have business here, so we still have to support my business here.

It was a difficult comeback. His parents, who live in another town and support the war, told him he was wrong to leave Russia. He says he has trouble calling them and does not expect to see them until the conflict is over.

“When I came back, I was afraid that there would be a lot of cars with Z or V [symbols supporting the war] but I only saw one, he said. “However, the atmosphere is really heavy here. All our media say that a lot of people support the war, but that’s not true. No one around me supports him. Everyone here is afraid to even talk about this “special operation”. No one smiles and everyone is sad.

Pro-Russian troops in Mariupol. Fears of forced mobilization forced many Russians to flee early in the war. Photograph: Alexander Ermoshenko/Reuters

A senior executive at one of Russia’s biggest IT companies said he noticed the return of younger employees with lower salaries who had been driven out of cities like Yerevan, Istanbul and Tbilisi.

“People left in a panic, then after a while they realized, ‘OK, how are we going to keep living?’” the executive said. “They still hate the situation, they still don’t agree and they still feel psychologically uneasy and they don’t want to come back. But there’s no way not to come back.

There are no precise estimates of the number of Russians who left the country after the start of the war, which the Kremlin called a “special operation”. While tech workers may have good prospects overseas, others may find that their skills and education don’t translate across borders.

Dmitry, an art consultant, said he was “in shock” when war broke out and fled the country due to rumors of forced mobilization.

“I flew to Uzbekistan, one of the easiest places to visit without a visa. I returned to Moscow at the end of March when it became clear that the forced mobilization was just a rumor. I realized that Europe was not an option for me. I’m not sure that Europe is waiting for the arrival of the Russians, even those who are against the war. What would I even do there? I barely speak English.

Ira Lobanovskaya, who heads an organization helping Russians settle abroad, said: “Many left during the panic wave, just to breathe. I see some people coming back now. But I know that some of those who have returned are planning to leave. They just needed to get back to Russia to collect all their stuff, organize their paperwork, and make concrete plans to leave properly.

A number of factors could complicate Russians moving abroad, said Katrin Sommerfeld, a researcher at Mannheim’s Center for European Economic Research who focuses on refugee immigration. She published an article calling on German policymakers to come up with a strategy on how to deal with migrants from Russia.

“Prices are skyrocketing in the countries these people are going to,” she said. “You are only allowed to take $10,000 overseas from Russia. You cannot access your bank account. The ruble has devalued. So it’s harder to get your money and it’s worth less. Things are very expensive. This makes things difficult and could possibly fuel return migration, because if your money is burned and it doesn’t work overseas, what are you going to do? »

Some of those who return often say they are surprised by the indifference to war.

“The main impression for me is that people sort of accept it,” said the technical manager. “War is bad and Putin is bad but life goes on. It’s more or less good here, the exchange rate is good even if it’s imaginary, some stuff has disappeared from the stores but it’s not as bad as we thought, the prices have gone up but it’s not is not so bad. This really depressed me seriously at the bottom of my heart.

In a recent poll, more than half of Russians said they did not follow the war closely.

“I thought I was going to see horrible scenes in the streets, people would be filled with pro-war anger, but life actually goes on,” Olga Gladysheva said. “All the bars and restaurants are still full every night. It feels like people are ignoring the war, but that’s scary too.

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