Thousands of Russians leave their country in fear and despair

Many of the thousands of Russians who leave their country through Finland to flee the sanctions do so with fear of possible reprisals if they express their opinion in public and the despair of not seeing a future in their own land.

The Allegro, the high-speed train that connects Saint Petersburg with Helsinki twice a day, arrives full at the central station of the Finnish capital, as has been the case since Russia launched its offensive on Ukraine.

Travelers, the vast majority Russian citizens, rush to leave the platform and very few of them dare to speak to the journalists waiting for them. Some travel for pleasure or work, many others flee Russia.

“Sorry, I have relatives in Russia”, says a young man with his face hidden behind a mask. “I’m sorry, I’m military and I can’t make statementsa tall, stocky middle-aged man apologizes.

Fear of retaliation

Katya (not her real name), a young woman from St. Petersburg, is one of the few people who agree to be interviewed, because she believes – she says – that her words may help shed some light on the current internal situation in Russia, although only Dare to do it anonymously.

“All my friends and family are in Russia and now you can be sentenced to 15 years in prison if you say something that is not right. They are like hostages and I don’t know how to protect them.”it states.

Katya wants to take advantage of her vacation to leave Russia and try to find a future in Spain, where she has some contacts.

“Nobody believes that the situation in Russia will improve in the short term. Those of us who belong to the generation of the nineties have a more open mind and many families lived then in such poor conditions that we cannot even imagine going back to that”, he assures.

Katya says that many of her friends think like her and are looking for ways to leave Russia to move to other countries, but others have believed the official propaganda and believe that the attack on Ukraine is really for the good of Russia.

“Even before Ukraine there was no future for me in Russia. The situation in Belarus made us understand that there was no hope. The whole country rose up against the president (Alexandr Lukashenko). And where is the president now? In the same place, without the rest of the world doing anything“, he complains.

Putin hostages

Katya finds it very unfair that the big multinationals are leaving Russia or temporarily closing their businesses, because many normal people are losing their jobs, without harming the person the sanctions are aimed at: Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Please do not blame the people of Russia for what is happening in Ukraine, we are hostages”, he assures.

Katya does not believe that she will be able to return to Russia to live and work for a long time, because there, she says, she sees neither a future nor security for her future children.

“I don’t know much about politics, but in the last ten years many things have gotten worse: freedom of expression, prices… For me, Great Russia is not Putin’s, it is an open and free“, it states.

Propaganda and sanctions

Anait Amirkhanyan is Russian, but she also has Portuguese nationality. She lived her entire childhood in Russia, where she spends several months every year, and now she returns to Portugal, a country where she has lived for a long time with her Russian husband.

Perhaps that is why he is not afraid to speak openly and frankly about the impact of propaganda in Putin’s Russia.

“The majority at the moment is somehow with Putin, but they don’t understand what is going on and in Russia we have extremely strong propaganda. When you see on television every day that they totally lie about the war, you believe it“, it states.

In his opinion, the sanctions of the European Union (EU) and the United States against Russia still do not harm the population much, but they will do so soon.

“Not right now, but they will affect, of course, because right now we can see that many shops are closing, we can’t buy euros to travel or any currency, so they will hurt. Of course, the sanctions are going to be very harsh also for the Russians“, it says.

He also believes that many of Putin’s opponents will eventually flee Russia due to the new repressive laws against them and the impact the sanctions will have on daily life.

“All those who can leave, will leave. Why? Because it is not possible to live with such restrictions, it is not possible to live with this new law, and it is not possible to live in a war situation with Ukraine. Many people do not support it. Of course, many support him, but those who do not support him will leave”, he assures.

As the last Allegro passengers leave the platform, the tower of Helsinki Central Station is illuminated in blue and yellow, in solidarity with Ukraine, and a Ukrainian flag flutters on its roof.