Dimitri —not his real name— says that it was difficult, that in the first moments he did not know, that making the decision was difficult for him, that leaving his woman Y leave was complicated, that it was scary, but now, seeing it with some perspectivehe is happy because he took the wise decision.
And he wasn’t the only one, he says: the vast majority of his friends did the exact same thing. escaped from Russia after the announcement, on September 21, of the “partial mobilization” to fight in the war in Ukraine. “My group of friends is completely divided now. I’m in Antalya, [en el sur de Turquía]and I have friends who are in istanbulin Dubai, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan Y Georgia. Those who are still in Russia will probably try it soon,” explains Dimitri.
His decision making was quick. One day after the announcement of Vladimir Putin, Dimitri bought his ticket to leave. Since Moscow he went to Dubai and, from there, via Istanbul, arrived in Antalya on September 24. For a journey that usually cost 500 eurosDimitri paid 1,500. And he was lucky: in the weeks that followed flights out of Russia climbed up to 5,000 euros and more.
journalists and activists
Dimitri is one among many. Specifically, one of close to a million: This is the estimate of Russians who have left their country since the end of February, when Putin decided to reactivate the military campaign in Ukraine, which he called “special operation”.
During the first weeks of the invasion of Ukraine, those who fled were mainly journalists and activists, people whose lives were in danger if they stayed. Then they started to leave liberal young professionalspeople from the big Russian cities whose jobs, related to the technology — undermined by Western sanctions — required a move abroad.
Now, however, the people fleeing are different. They are, above all, men between the ages of 18 and 60 and escape the draft at the end of September. Kazakhstan, the only country that has given clear figures, has announced that about 200,000 Russians have entered through its land border since the beginning of the Russian forced recruitment. 200,000 people in just three weeks.
“Even people who used to support the war, who believed what state propaganda told them, is leaving. They do not want to support this war with their own lives. Nobody wants to go fight. The chances of coming back alive, or without serious injuries or trauma are very low, so a lot of people are leaving,” he explains. Eva Rapporta young Russian woman who has created an aid organization in Istanbul for compatriots who are fleeing the country.
“There are many people who contact us online to help them get out and have in their profiles the letter ‘Z’ —the symbol of the Russian “special operation”. And I think they deserve some kind of help and understanding because repeating official propaganda cannot be a offense punishable by death and go to war to die,” says Rapoport.
A story that repeats itself
These autumn days, through the streets of central Istanbul, Russian is heard everywhere. many are tourists; people who will be back in a few weeks. Others, however, without a place to return to, threatened, will stay.
It is a repeated history; 100 years exactly. In the 1920s, Istanbul was filled with white russiansformer aristocrats, rich, bourgeois and tsarists in favor of the old regime and fleeing from the new and unknown red future that was being created in Moscow. Those who leave now, on the other hand, escape from a future that is increasingly similar to the past.
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“People who go out do relieved once he has managed to cross the border, if he is not in Russia. Inside there many talk about stress and panic that has been created among the population since the call-up was announced”, explains Rapoport, who continues: “Many people say that they have had to pay bribes to the police to let them cross the border. I guess the police and guards are trying to take advantage of the situation. But at the moment everyone who wants to and can pay for it is able to get out.”
Meanwhile, Dimitri decides what to do with his future. His wife will leave Russia in a couple of weeks—women are not recruited—and during this time he tries to help his friends who have stayed behind. “They’re trying to get out, but it’s getting harder and harder,” says Dimitri. they’re scared in case they are called and made to go to war. They do not want to. Nobody wants. if they call they will desert, they will escape. I don’t know what will happen to them, but they won’t go to war.”