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I managed to escape the country yesterday, had to flight to Egypt of all places, because ALL (even business) tickets were sold out. The recent news is that star

I managed to escape the country yesterday, had to flight to Egypt of all places, because ALL (even business) tickets were sold out. The recent news is that starting March 6 all international flights are suspended, the trap has closed. The disheartening thing is that even if you never supported Putin, other countries treat you as enemy. I am at Georgia now and banks refuse to open bank accounts to Russians, and I need one to continue working as a remote dev for US companies. Older generation (who are pro-Russian) suggested being careful around young people as they may be hostile to Russians, even those who are running away from Putin. A lot of my IT friends have fled the country, almost everyone who could. My heart is bleeding thinking of friends who wanted to leave on March 9, not sure what they can do now.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
pelasaco 5y ago
go back home and fight for freedom. You are the only one that can stop Putin.
- cpsns 5y ago
  I can pretty much guarantee most of the people commenting things like this wouldn't risk their lives to do the same. It's very easy to type it out and pretend in your imagination, but reality is quite a different matter.
- dang 5y ago
  That crosses into personal attack and is not allowed here. No more of this, please, regardless of how right your views are or you feel they are. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
  - tablespoon 5y ago
    > That crosses into personal attack and is not allowed here. Speaking of personal attacks, could you take a look at these comments? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30558831 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30558831 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30559742 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30559742
bsedlm 5y ago
a lot of people seem ok with punishing Russian individuals for the actions of the government. maybe these people have grown in better functioning democracies (unlike Russia or my own country) so they act as if the people were well represented by their governments; unlike reality for most countries with a serious corruption problem.
- retrac 5y ago
  I think it's just how we tend to think, unfortunately. We conflate individuals into uniform groups. Americans certainly do it with domestic politics. ~100 million people become "the Republicans" or "the Democrats" and are spoken of as if they have a single, united mind behind them.
  - mancerayder 5y ago
    We do it everywhere: You'll hear teenagers talking about their generation in the third person: "I recognize that my generation has a lot more to deal with than previous generations". College students in a similar way. You'll hear us paint the enemy, as you described with "the Republicans" and "the Democrats" - although each will use other terms less endearing. Politicians always talk about what "American families want .." The recent culture wars as well, whether it was about Covid stuff, or the racial conversations that were prominent up until recently. Am I a "privileged X" or a "member of the community"? Either way, I will start the sentence with, "As an X, I want to say ...". Are "they" "anti-maskers"? Or are "they" "triple vaxxers"? It's almost like people have internalized sociological statistics as identity, and internalize the language used about us, but from the outside. It must be a great time to be alive if you work in a marketing department of a big tech company, given how easy it is to "target the market segment"[1] or perhaps engage in state-sponsored information warfare that pits right against left and left against right.[2] 1 - https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/market-segment.asp https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/market-segment.asp 2 - https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.technologyreview.com/2021/09/16/1035851/facebook-troll-farms-report-us-2020-election/amp/ https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.technologyreview.com/2021/0...
- ignoramous 5y ago
martinko 5y ago
Have you considered being paid in, for example, USDC? You could then get a visa card that you could top up with it for spending.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- thepasswordis 5y ago
  This is a good idea. The only issue will be if any of the offramps start banning Russian citizens as well.
  - awb 5y ago
    Luckily I haven’t heard of a country seriously considering that and I’m not sure what goal that would achieve. It sounds like a win/win to help people leave who want to.
- therusskiy 5y ago
  I've been a big crypto sceptic for a long time, but with the current situation I had to deposit a lot of money to Binance, because Russian banks/government has stopped allowing people to withdraw USD from ATMs, forbidden transfers to other countries (only $5k/m to relatives), forbidden to cross borders with more than $10k (not they are possible to cross at all now).
  - martinko 5y ago
    Don't want to come of as a crypto shill, but check out the crypto.com card. It could be pretty useful for you (if they give you one, not sure about the whole sanctions situation). I have been using it for daily payments for over a year and I'm pretty happy with my experience.
  - xiphias2 5y ago
    If you don't own the private key, you are not really ahead. Money of Russian people on crypto exchanges will be frozen. Buy a Trezor, it can save your financial life.
jorgesborges 5y ago
I’m sorry to hear about your situation and I’m wishing you, your friends, and your family the best of luck. I don’t consider you or anyone in your situation an enemy. Take care.
formvoltron 5y ago
We are afraid Putin will use nuclear weapons. We don't like that he came from a KGB background and that he seems to be friends with mafia. And that he likes to assassinate his rivals. If the Russian people are so much against Putin and on the side of the West, then why not arrange them to all leave their apartments at the same time, to walk into their central squares, and to start shaking their keys -- as the Czechs did.
- jacquesm 5y ago
  Fair chance it would turn into a bloodbath. Better would a national strike. Equally difficult to organize but much harder to attack.
  - formvoltron 5y ago
    I'm talking about ALL the people that are against Putin. Which if this guy is to be believed is most of the people. They are not going to kill most of their own people. A million people marching in Moscow would change minds.
    - jacquesm 5y ago
      I agree it would change minds. And at the same time I'm pretty sure it would end in a bloodbath. Passive resistance against a dictatorship is a lot safer than active resistance. Of course the latter sends a more powerful message but it makes it obvious who to target, when and where and the reflexive response will be to lash out. Still, there is safety in numbers so maybe it would work. But I would not immediately bet on it, otoh simply crippling the Russian economy further could be achieved by inaction.
      - formvoltron 5y ago
        There are already young people brave enough to protest with just 2000 people protesting. I'm talking about a million people standing outside and walking towards the Red Square, shaking their keys. If Russians cannot manage this, then I do not have sympathy whatsoever.
formvoltron 5y ago
- kgeist 5y ago
  >You are Russian and therefore you are responsible for your government's actions. Imho that works in democracies, not dictatorships. Putin is holding Russians hostage.
- ecf 5y ago
  Can’t have an autocracy without the willing participation of apathetic citizens.
- jdrc 5y ago
  That's easy to say for people on the outside. Russians who want change can influence one another, build up awareness, but standing in front of tanks will just most likely lead to pulverization and it's not like russians are strangers to popular uprising, but the trauma of the fall of the soviet empire has a poisonous influence not just on the old generations
  - formvoltron 5y ago
    Yes I realize it would be hard for them. But who else on the planet has a better chance? The reality is that everyone is paying these sanction costs. Europe and US companies too. Even poor people in Morocco will pay the costs in the form of increased food costs or food scarcity. Russians seem to want a get out of jail for free card, but that would not be fair at all.
- Procedural 5y ago
  > Another reason we don't like Russians is that they are afraid to stand up to their own government. What about billions of Chinese that are afraid to stand up to the communist party?
  - seanmcdirmid 5y ago
    Billions of Chinese? The PRC only has 1.4 billion people or so.
CGamesPlay 5y ago
Do you have a source for the flights thing? I hadn't heard that yet. Was your phone inspected when you left the country? Were you interviewed?
- therusskiy 5y ago
  Sorry the news are in Russian: https://yandex.ru/news/story/Rosaviaciya_rekomendovala_perevozchikam_s6_marta_priostanovit_rejsy_zarubezh--85e6bdb6884b1a079d9f9c1a3c16fb2d https://yandex.ru/news/story/Rosaviaciya_rekomendovala_perev... As for the "interview", thankfully no, but FSB does stop a lot of people to inspect their phones and question them, which can take 40 minutes. I had to clean my social networks and direct messages of any posts against the war and the government.
  - dunkelheit 5y ago
    AFAIU this applies only to Russian airlines because their leased planes can be confiscated abroad. But e.g. Turkish airlines can still fly.
    - therusskiy 5y ago
      you are right, there are still a handful of companies that fly to Russia. For now. But it's going to be close to impossible to buy tickets for them soon due to 90+% of other flights being cancelled and the high demand. Also, the situation changes literally every hour, these companies may be next. Putin realises that people with money and education are trying to run away and actively fights it.
darkarmani 5y ago
I'm so sorry you are going through this. Good luck. I hope you are able to get settled safely.
nuccy 5y ago
[disclaimer: Ukrainian here] > Older generation (who are pro-Russian) suggested being careful around young people as they may be hostile to Russians, even those who are running away from Putin Of course, instead of even attempting to change your country, where there is no war on its territory, you flee. Why should they be kind to you? > The disheartening thing is that even if you never supported Putin, other countries treat you as enemy. Silence equals support. Молчание - знак согласия. (A popular russian saying).
- the_lonely_road 5y ago
  Rude and unnecessary. I’m not going to die fighting FOR my country so I’m sure as hell not going to die fighting against it.
  - nuccy 5y ago
    Words are not as rude as bullets.
  - forty 5y ago
    Fighting against Putin would probably be fighting FOR your country at that point :) I'm not pretending I would be better than you and honestly I would certainly have fled too in similar situation. But at some point someone is going to have to do something about the Putin situation, and unfortunately at this point, only Russians can do something that have not a significant chance to end in nuclear apocalypse. Hopefully some brave people over there that remember how tyrans should be treated (but once again, I would never blame anyone for not endangering their families)
- BobbyJo 5y ago
  Leaving is an effective way of changing it.
  - bitcharmer 5y ago
    On the contrary. Leaving results in cementing the status quo because the population that remains are blind Putin followers.
skeletal88 5y ago
I have a colleague from Russia who moved here a few years ago. But.. still he is using talking-points that come from Kremlin's propaganda, like "The US will fight Russia to the last ukrainian" and "I would feel safer here if we weren't in NATO, this makes us a target for Russia" and "You know that it was promised that NATO wouldn't expand?" and "Your country joined the Soviet Union voluntarily". So.. even when some people move abroad and say they don't support Putin, they still have this.. imperialist mindset that everyone is out to get Russia and it's actions are justified to protect itself and so on. As an explanation about what people think, not as an accusation against you.
- therusskiy 5y ago
  he came to Georgia under difference circumstances though, not running away from the government like the people fleeing right now
- CapricornNoble 5y ago
  >>>still he is using talking-points that come from Kremlin's propaganda, like "The US will fight Russia to the last ukrainian" That's considered "Russian propaganda"? We've managed to goad Putin into grinding up his conventional military in a large-scale war. We've set the Russian economy back decades. And we've so far pulled off both of these, without any NATO member paying a massive price in blood for it. Russian propaganda? More like "Greatest US foreign policy success of the 21st century". I've been really critical of the moves we've made in Europe for the past 10-15 years, but I have to say, if this doesn't escalate into WW3....kudos to the CIA and the State Department for playing the long game and having it work out. But it definitely sucks for the Ukrainians. I still would have preferred the relationship we had with Russia in the early 2000s. It would have been nice to leverage Russia's geographic position in the inevitable confrontation with China: a bunch of Russian tank divisions under a nuclear umbrella in Siberia would keep China nervous about a vulnerable 2nd front, and perhaps unable to mass combat power against Taiwan/Japan/etc.
  - skeletal88 5y ago
    He explained that the crisis in Russia is the fault of / was somehow started by the US. He said that a few months ago, not this week. Now he doesn't say anything anymore.
ramoz 5y ago
Why is the internet situation like?
mgh2 5y ago
Ideas for options here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30552091 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30552091
quadcore 5y ago
Maybe there is something you can work out with TerraUSD (algorithmic stablecoin) and localbitcoins.com
- vmception 5y ago
  DAI and MIM are a more battle tested model than TerraUSD But yes a basket of stablecoins is good right now
  - quadcore 5y ago
    DAI and MIM are KYC-ed at their root so I wouldnt go for them, Edit: you have to be compliant to a subset of KYC to run their api - sorry i dont have the detail on top of my head, I do know its the case for USDC and last I checked DAI was KYC-rooted too. Everything thats stablecoin usd is KYC-rooted but TerraUSD which you cant purchase with usd on some major fiat ramp. Also KYC is recursive right, if youre KYCed you got to KYC your users too
    - vmception 5y ago
      What do you mean by that, you can buy and earn DAI and MIM without KYC, and they continue to function autonomously whether the founders have a regulatory issue, have survived and maintained their peg during volatile stress tests with the collateral, and they can be sold without KYC, they also cannot freeze an individual address Edit: to your edit, thats not accurate, all data is available onchain and can be read, new dai and mim can be created by adding collateral, programmatic interaction is done via ABIs, there is no need for a third party API even if they are offering one
      - quadcore 5y ago
        thats not accurate, all data is available onchain and can be read, new dai and mim can be created by adding collateral, programmatic interaction is done via ABIs, there is no need for a third party API even if they are offering one Youre saying, atm, all solutions are KYC-rooted but you can create a grey area yourself without being KYCed yourself (if youre lucky). Youre certainly right. FYI I was giving a practical advice to someone in need of a sure grey-enough area thats available now.
baskethead 5y ago
I think only lesser people would think all Russians support Putin. Every Russian I know in Silicon Valley that are sickened by Putin. Eric Stalwall, the House Representative in East Bay (of the SF Bay Area) proposed to kick all Russian students out of the US. That sickened me and I won't forget this going forward (he ran for Democratic nominee for President in 2020). How can you blame citizens of the country for the country's actions? That's like Japanese internment camps all over again. I can't believe in 2021 someone would propose such a stupid and horrifying thing, especially in the Bay Area. I'm glad you were able to escape safely.
- jquery 5y ago
  I know lots of Russians that support Putin, unfortunately. I wish it were as simple as Putin was acting alone but he is a popular Russian figure.
  - gip 5y ago
    I have family / friends in Russia and outside Russia and I’m seeing the same thing: Putin is popular. I suspect it had to do with how the Russian identity is build. I keep telling these people that a country is defined by what it does in the world, not by what it is or was. But at the end of the day I think a lot of them consider Russia as a « powerful » country that should have an empire.
  - shrimp_emoji 5y ago
    I think if you multiply the number of Russians who protested against the Ukraine invasion by 100, it's 1% of Russians, max.
lmilcin 5y ago
I would like to discern between personal and collective responsibility. Yes, it is disheartening that so many people will personally pay for this regardless of the fact that they might even be vocally opposing this and other actions. No, I don't think Russian people are absolved as a nation. I believe that nations are collectively responsible for their actions. Explanations that "I have only followed orders" have long been proven to be false defence. Every person that continues to work, pay their taxes, follow their roles, close their eyes and ears to the atrocities without opposing the tyrant is cooperating and enabling him to do what he wants. In the end you must recognise that Putin is only a human being and he is personally unable to do anything substantial. It is only other people that are enabling him that make this tragedy possible. Some nations decide to pay the blood price and revolt, and some decided to not do that. Ukrainians bled for their right to be a democratic country. So many other nations paid so heavy price because they did not want go with what was easy and comfortable but rather decided to do what is right.
- TravelPiglet 5y ago
  Nobody is forcing Russia to be part of the global economy and global society. They are abusing the system as much as they can get away with and now complain when the most of the world agrees that it worth stop supporting an abusive country. If you don’t want to follow the rules, don’t complain when you’re kicked out.
andrey123 5y ago
[Disclaimer: Russian] According to my estimations, probably at least 95% of people who are "against the war" do not go out to participate in protests. My estimations are based on talking to my colleagues (large IT company). Yes, starting from now, protesting becomes more risky (you may go to jail for years if you get caught second time). But just a week ago, it was mostly harmless (yes, some people get arrested for few days, but will anyone say it's comparable to what's going on in Ukraine?). And from these 5% who go out now many (including myself) were not protesting in 2014. So to be honest I cannot see how we are not responsible. [Edit] 95% is a VERY conservative estimation. [Edit2] And of course people from other countries are also responsible for crimes which their governments are or were doing (many of these crimes resulted in many more deaths than this conflict yet - hopefully it will remain so). So don't feel good about yourself guys.
- artyomxyz 5y ago
  In some way you’re right. But it’s important to note that we haven’t chosen this government, we haven’t chosen this country we live in. I personally lost any hope to change it one year earlier after participating in pro-Navalny protests. Now, I just don’t want to have anything in common with this government. I’m choosing another one. And I’m not going to pay taxes to Russian government anymore
  - antattack 5y ago
    Don't beat yourself over it. Now that you're out of the country, you can donate time and/or money to help fight for tolerance and against Putin regime.
    - ativzzz 5y ago
      For the vast majority of normal people, just leaving the country without plans of coming back is the best they can do.
    - vixen99 5y ago
      That would be a tough fight according to this poll reported on the 23rd February. Probably a disturbing result for those who think the Russians are not broadly in line with the government. However at that time only 13% thought it likely for the Kremlin to initiate military action towards Ukraine. https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2022/02/europe/russia-ukraine-crisis-poll-intl/index.html https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2022/02/europe/russia-uk...
BbzzbB 5y ago
I'm glad you left in time, hope you find somewhere to stay and that your loved ones are safe too. First sinister thought that crossed my mind when two days ago I heard he'll likely prevent people fleeing on the 5th was that there must be some 40 million "fighting aged" men not doing essential work (for a military economy) under a despot out of medieval times. How significant do you consider the probability he's blocked people from leaving and declared martial law in order to conscript hordes of non-reserved men into military training or straight into the meat grinder? Especially if Ukraine drags on for weeks and months, let along if there's contagion to other countries.. Do you think that's the path Russia could be on or it's more about avoiding an exodus and increased inner panic?
- belter 5y ago
  "Putin denies rumours Russia was going to declare martial law" https://www.business-standard.com/article/international/putin-denies-rumours-russia-was-going-to-declare-martial-law-122030500815_1.html https://www.business-standard.com/article/international/puti... This mean will be done next week....
  - BbzzbB 5y ago
    Yeah right, just like he's denazifying Ukraine. He "won't have a choice" (horrific words in this context) but to use military force to compel the populace into complacency if there's merely a hint of civil revolution.
    - hackerfromthefu 5y ago
      Historically, when enough people rise their countrymen become reluctant to shoot them. There seems to be a tipping point required, which probably varies between cultures. It's probably caused by a combination of empathy and fear of recriminations should the revolution become successful.
grujicd 5y ago
AFAIK Air Serbia is still flying to Russia, and even doubled number of flights few days ago because of demand. I don’t know what’s the situation with visas, how long you can stay, how it is to open bank account, etc but historically Serbia is friendly towards Russia. Government does condemn Russia for this war, but I don’t think we’ll be implementing any kind of sanctions. Elections are in a month, and noone wants to loose votes of pro-russian part of population.
- dennis_moore 5y ago
  With the EU having banned Russia from its airspace, I wonder what route these flights take.
  - labster 5y ago
    Direct, right? Air Serbia is presumably based in Serbia, not Russia.
  - 5e92cb50239222b 5y ago
    My friend is leaving Moscow for Serbia soon. They use Serbian airplanes which don't have any restrictions put on them.
  - tw20212021 5y ago
    Just check flightradar24. I see one from Moscow to Belgrade flying now over Poland.
  - belter 5y ago
    "Air Serbia Doubles Moscow Frequencies To Meet Demand" https://simpleflying.com/air-serbia-doubles-moscow-frequencies/ https://simpleflying.com/air-serbia-doubles-moscow-frequenci...
  - pulse7 5y ago
    Serbia does not have any flight restrictions - neither in EU and neither in Russia and Belarus. So they can fly between Moscow and Belgrade...
- 5y ago
belter 5y ago
Are the Russians of the older generation, that get their news from most of the official news, buying into the government story? Or do you think everybody already realized what is really happening in Ukraine?
- djhn 5y ago
  The boomers are unfortunately lost to propaganda.
  - goldenkey 5y ago
    That's crazy considering that the FSB bombed its own citizens to get Putin into power.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_apartment_bombings https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_apartment_bombings
    - filoleg 5y ago
      It is only crazy if you assume that those people are both aware of those bombings and believe that it was the FSB doing the bombings (and not "it was actually western-backed terrorists, any claims stating otherwise are just anti-Russian propaganda from the west"). Which, in this case, is far from given.
- jotm 5y ago
  Well, from the comments on Youtube, they're insanely indoctrinated. Zero chance it's all bots.
Etherlord87 5y ago
I am empathetic to your situation, but if you lived in Russia and paid taxes in Russia, you did support Putin. You also supported him just by living there, which was a statement that Russia is a place worth living in. Also if you didn't protest, you did support him passively. The same can be said, probably to a lesser extent, about most of us living outside of Russia - if we bought things coming from Russia or didn't criticize Russia, we supported Putin in a similar way. Though it could be argued we, non-russian citizens don't have the responsibility for russian government's actions... I'm wondering if resigning from a russian citizenship can help with the sanctions against russians. Surely openly criticizing the war and/or Putin with some kind of stickers or t-shirts or maybe Ukrainian colors can alleviate contact with actual people. I think no one pretends sanctions are fair. But what's a better alternative?
- johannes1234321 5y ago
  > You also supported him just by living there, which was a statement that Russia is a place worth living in. Not that people necessarily have a choice. They need visa, working permits (qualification!), money to create a new live elsewhere and also probably have family or health related things keeping one in a place. > Also if you didn't protest, you did support him passively. In a totalitarian state demonstrating isn't as easy as in other places. You easily end up in jail. Of course it is true that a state can only exist while supported by the inhabitants, but it's not as easy as saying "leave or be loud in protest"
- helixfelix 5y ago
  Your comment made me do a double take. Surely an individual is not to blame for a countries injustices, imperialism, and war crimes? Otherwise large parts of the developed world would have to be abandoned immediately. We need to consider borders, immigration, work authorization, regulations, wealth, health, friends, family responsibilities, kids, partners and their own constraints - before being able to pass judgement. It's takes incredible privelege to propose that one can just pickup their bags and go wherever they want in the world.
- evv555 5y ago
  >The same can be said, probably to a lesser extent, about most of us living outside of Russia - if we bought things coming from Russia or didn't criticize Russia, we supported Putin in a similar way. Though it could be argued we, non-russian citizens don't have the responsibility for russian government's actions... If that's the threshold for responsibility then that's barely scratching the surface. Western banks have profited from the enabling and corruption of oligarchs by laundering their assets with impunity for decades. Corporations like Cisco had no problem doing technology transfers for surveillance technology that now makes opposing so dangerous. German politicians gutted their nuclear energy/energy security in the name of going green. European politicians have pushed an agenda of appeasement in the name of moral relativism and "stakeholder capitalism". This is a crescendo that has been building for decades at the benefit of Westerners and the expense of normal Eastern Bloc people.
atlantas 5y ago
> The disheartening thing is that even if you never supported Putin, other countries treat you as enemy. This is precisely what leads to atrocities like Japanese internment camps. We are repeating dark history in real time and it's being actively cheered on by a bloodthirsty mob who have no regard for innocent civilians and kids.
- ip26 5y ago
  There is actually a difference here; the parent comment is a Russian refugee. The Japanese internment camps housed mostly Japanese Americans who already lived in the United States before the war and were predominantly US citizens. Refugees are human & need help, but it isn't quite the same.
  - vertis 5y ago
    It's the same in some ways. Already there has been an uptick in hate towards Russians outside Russia. Also Belarusians[0]. Even if they're anti-Putin and anti-war, if they've been trying for years to change things they can't escape being Russian/Belorusian. [0]: https://twitter.com/AlinaLeonovaSF/status/1499457928562102274 https://twitter.com/AlinaLeonovaSF/status/149945792856210227...
- justinpowers 5y ago
  > it's being actively cheered on by a bloodthirsty mob who have no regard for innocent civilians and kids. What are you referring to here specifically? Genuinely curious. I haven’t encountered much anti-Russian sentiment (yet), I’ve only noticed anger towards Putin, his cronies, and their soldiers. As far as I can tell, most understand that the Russian people didn’t choose this despite how little they did (or could do) to stop it.
  - evv555 5y ago
    In US there are several articles about public figure Russians being cancelled for refusing to speak out against Putin and anecdotes of "Russian" restaurants being boycotted vandalized. Publicly speaking out like is being demanded is dangerous and many US "Russian" businesses aren't actually Russian owned but catering to Russian speakers(including Ukrainians).
9214 5y ago
FYI, I heard that Georgia plans to introduce visas for Russians, because local population begins to worry of all the immigrants taking jobs. Meanwhile, in Russia's remote places (small town in Ural region) some grocerry shops have imposed food rationing for essentials (sugar, bread, wheat, flour, etc) because of panic-bying. And it's snowing as if during Ragnarök, nordic end of times. Among my friends and relatives we half-jokingly discuss that, while potato harvesting and mushroom picking were a sort of recreational leisure activity in the past, now they are destined to become an essential part of this summer season.
- BbzzbB 5y ago
  Georgia and Moldova asked to joined the EU 2 days ago, the Russo-Ukrainian war basically started when they turned to the EU rather then the EAEU (Euromaiden). I'm afraid it won't be exactly be a safe place for long, I'd try to move farther away if I was exiling from Russia.
- jotm 5y ago
  Afaik, if there's one thing Russia is actually self-sustained at, it's food and energy. Would there really be shortages of food because of the sanctions?
  - helge9210 5y ago
    Of course. Famine is the natural stable state for Russia. Russia was on the brink of famine in 1990-1991. Putin's political career started from stealing and reselling humanitarian aid from USA in St Petersburg. He was saved from prosecution by mayor Sobchak. That's why his daughter Ksenia Sobchak always got preferential treatment.
- trhway 5y ago
  >FYI, I heard that Georgia plans to introduce visas for Russians, because local population begins to worry of all the immigrants taking jobs. i think the Ukrainians fleeing Russian bombs should take priority over Russians fleeing discomfort.
einarfd 5y ago
> A lot of my IT friends have fled the country, almost everyone who could. My heart is bleeding thinking of friends who wanted to leave on March 9, not sure what they can do now. Depending on where in Russian they live. They could flee in their car. Finland seem to be popular (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-60624500 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-60624500). The Baltics, Norway and possibly Sweden on a ferry or boat could also be options.
- the_mitsuhiko 5y ago
  Land borders are closed and require special permission.
  - jpindar 5y ago
    It's a long border. Honest question - is it all well patrolled?
llIIllIIllIIl 5y ago
Go fight against Russian zombies in Ukraine to win your right to have a bank account.
- foxfluff 5y ago
  Ukraine is not accepting volunteers from Russia. https://twitter.com/KyivIndependent/status/1500117513039982594?cxt=HHwWhMC54cO7vtEpAAAA https://twitter.com/KyivIndependent/status/15001175130399825... I think it's the right call, given that they have a problem with Russian saboteurs who snuck into the country before the war started. They're currently discouraging the use of the Russian language (many Ukrainians speak both Ukrainian and Russian) to avoid suspicion. Tension is extremely high right now, checkpoints everywhere around Kyiv, guards on the edge, and there's a huge risk of escalation if you're suspected of being on the wrong side. There's been many videos of alleged saboteurs getting arrested, and the rumor is that your ability to pronounce a Ukrainian word correctly is used as a test to find out where you're from.
  - llIIllIIllIIl 5y ago
    Nobody said it would be easy.
T-A 5y ago
In 2014, after I’d just emigrated from Russia because of my opposition to the Crimea annexation, I bristled when Ukrainians told me the move didn’t erase my responsibility. I was sure I couldn’t have done anything to change the nature of the Russian regime. “You go fight Putin,” I snarled back at my Ukrainian accusers. “See where you get with that.” It fills me with shame to remember that now, because of course they are fighting him as I write this — and we didn’t really do so even when it wasn’t as dangerous as in the current climate of cruel suppression. https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-03-05/ukraine-will-teach-ordinary-russians-some-german-lessons https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-03-05/ukrain...
tguvot 5y ago
>The recent news is that starting March 6 all international flights are suspended, the trap has closed. This is international flights of russian airlines that has leased airplanes. Currently like 60% of planes are leased and companies started to demand their planes back. Some planes already get arrested. This is move essentially to prevent returning airplanes because otherwise civil aviation (and not only) in russia will be dead. It's still interesting to see, what they will do with spare parts. Also I think some airplanes must get some updates from "cloud" daily, which will probably be blocked as well
stickfigure 5y ago
Honest advice: Get a tshirt with "FUCK PUTIN" printed on it. Wear it everywhere, even if it's covered up by a jacket. If you find yourself in a risky situation, make sure it's showing.
- goldenkey 5y ago
  Then they risk getting shot or stabbed by a pro Putin thug or agent. Your advice is patently bad.
  - Etherlord87 5y ago
    Are russians really such cowards? I always thought to the opposite, but this constant look for excuses why not rebel against putin, why not protest, and now even why not wear a t-shirt really changes my mind. If you're russian, and you call yourself a russian, and you speak russian, and you don't change that for years, and feel no responsibility for what your government is doing whatsoever, honestly, you deserve the sanctions.
    - goldenkey 5y ago
      It's not cowardly to avoid wearing controversial shirts. There are nuts everywhere just look for reasons to be set off.
      - Etherlord87 5y ago
        Maybe I'm just brave, because I find that cowardly. But then what kind of word do we use to describe Ukrainians - heroic, I guess.
        muzika 5y ago
        Wearing a shirt with profanity printed on it is not heroic.
        5y ago
dkjaudyeqooe 5y ago
Regarding a bank account, try wise.com they will give you US bank details (among others) which you can use to get paid, and a debit card.
- chinathrow 5y ago
  For Russians at this time? I am not so sure.
  - dkjaudyeqooe 5y ago
    There are no rules against doing business with non-sanctioned individuals in Russia.
    - dragonwriter 5y ago
      Sanctions are changing daily, and lots of business are “self-sanctioning” beyond the formal sanctions boundaries to minimize the cost of dealing with changes (and also of dealing international partners, who are dealing with different sanctions regimes targeting Russia.)
ironcurtain 5y ago
Your people, whether you feel like they are yours is a different question, a fighting and dying. Many believing they do it for their country. You just want easy life for yourself. Nothing is wrong with it, but for the rest of the world you are not just Russian, but coward as well. You’ll be begging for forgiveness and always explaining that you were always against the tyrant to the good white people who think good correct thoughts. Just like those hapless whites cornered by BLM activists. Proper fate.
- rainxx 5y ago
  Ah, brave russian bear here with us. Don't poke bear, bear chop your country off. Add some BLM propaganda, add good white people and call everyone running for a normal life a coward. Good bot.
DyslexicAtheist 5y ago
> The disheartening thing is that even if you never supported Putin, other countries treat you as enemy. I'm so sorry ordinary Russians have to go through this stigma that Putins war carries. This isn't a war of "Russians" against Ukraine, it is Putins war. And while it's hard not to cheer for the underdog I hope that everyone can stop giving ordinary Russians a hard time. This isn't me "preaching", but verbalizing to myself (first and foremost) of how I want to act in every moment, and how I respond to violence from the comfort of a (currently) safe country when my lizard brain is under perpetual bombardment with visuals of horror and injustice.
askura 5y ago
Is this true? I had a friend who was meant to come over from Russia to the UK to visit in a few weeks. That's fucked. Best of luck to you mate. I know it can't be easy right now :/
bufferoverflow 5y ago
You supported Putin and his regime by paying taxes, buying russian products, which means even more taxes. You supported it silently by not going to the streets and protesting. (I was born in Russia, but never worked there. We left the year Putin came to power.)
dragonwriter 5y ago
> The disheartening thing is that even if you never supported Putin, other countries treat you as enemy. > I am at Georgia now While I sympathize with your plight, Russian infiltration tactics used in Ukraine and elsewhere make it somewhat understandable that Georgia (parts of which are currently under Russian occupation) might be somewhat suspicious of Russians, even those not obviously connected to the Russian government, especially after the recent escalation from the similar partial occupation of Ukraine.
tim333 5y ago
I did a kind of escape from London to Egypt over the early 2021 covid lockdown, for a few months. You might have been better hanging out there a bit! They are probably kinda neutral on the Russia stuff. You can get a residents card in a few days by paying like $90 and I think can open a bank account.
FerociousTimes 5y ago
Why didn't you stay in Egypt till the dust settles? You can obtain a visa up to 90 days and the country is home to a thriving Russian-speaking community not to mention it enjoys a relatively modest cost of living, so you wouldn't be burning through your savings till you work out a good arrangement for your job and life for the time being.
pacifier007 5y ago
fedorhk 5y ago
Hey, have you considered https://www.e-resident.gov.ee/ https://www.e-resident.gov.ee/ can be an option to receive money outside Russian bank system. My friend in Georgia (Russian) told me that while TBC refuse to open accounts, Bank of Georgia still do. Also seems like leading party pushing against this discrimination. Situation may change fast (already?) so check Bank of Georgia asap.
kragen 5y ago
Is Bitcoin a plausible option in Georgia? I know most US companies don't pay in Bitcoin, but some do.
lebed2045 5y ago
I hope you found the way to use your money abroad. By many requests I recorded to my friends a tutorial (on Russian language) how to transfer money abroad and minimising risk https://youtu.be/9ZcOfrjseFw https://youtu.be/9ZcOfrjseFw (using stablecoins and p2p on/off ramps)

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

pelasaco 5y ago

go back home and fight for freedom. You are the only one that can stop Putin.

cpsns 5y ago
I can pretty much guarantee most of the people commenting things like this wouldn't risk their lives to do the same. It's very easy to type it out and pretend in your imagination, but reality is quite a different matter.
dang 5y ago
That crosses into personal attack and is not allowed here. No more of this, please, regardless of how right your views are or you feel they are. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- tablespoon 5y ago
  > That crosses into personal attack and is not allowed here. Speaking of personal attacks, could you take a look at these comments? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30558831 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30558831 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30559742 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30559742

bsedlm 5y ago

a lot of people seem ok with punishing Russian individuals for the actions of the government. maybe these people have grown in better functioning democracies (unlike Russia or my own country) so they act as if the people were well represented by their governments; unlike reality for most countries with a serious corruption problem.

retrac 5y ago
I think it's just how we tend to think, unfortunately. We conflate individuals into uniform groups. Americans certainly do it with domestic politics. ~100 million people become "the Republicans" or "the Democrats" and are spoken of as if they have a single, united mind behind them.
- mancerayder 5y ago
  We do it everywhere: You'll hear teenagers talking about their generation in the third person: "I recognize that my generation has a lot more to deal with than previous generations". College students in a similar way. You'll hear us paint the enemy, as you described with "the Republicans" and "the Democrats" - although each will use other terms less endearing. Politicians always talk about what "American families want .." The recent culture wars as well, whether it was about Covid stuff, or the racial conversations that were prominent up until recently. Am I a "privileged X" or a "member of the community"? Either way, I will start the sentence with, "As an X, I want to say ...". Are "they" "anti-maskers"? Or are "they" "triple vaxxers"? It's almost like people have internalized sociological statistics as identity, and internalize the language used about us, but from the outside. It must be a great time to be alive if you work in a marketing department of a big tech company, given how easy it is to "target the market segment"[1] or perhaps engage in state-sponsored information warfare that pits right against left and left against right.[2] 1 - https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/market-segment.asp https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/market-segment.asp 2 - https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.technologyreview.com/2021/09/16/1035851/facebook-troll-farms-report-us-2020-election/amp/ https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.technologyreview.com/2021/0...
ignoramous 5y ago

martinko 5y ago

Have you considered being paid in, for example, USDC? You could then get a visa card that you could top up with it for spending.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
thepasswordis 5y ago
This is a good idea. The only issue will be if any of the offramps start banning Russian citizens as well.
- awb 5y ago
  Luckily I haven’t heard of a country seriously considering that and I’m not sure what goal that would achieve. It sounds like a win/win to help people leave who want to.
therusskiy 5y ago
I've been a big crypto sceptic for a long time, but with the current situation I had to deposit a lot of money to Binance, because Russian banks/government has stopped allowing people to withdraw USD from ATMs, forbidden transfers to other countries (only $5k/m to relatives), forbidden to cross borders with more than $10k (not they are possible to cross at all now).
- martinko 5y ago
  Don't want to come of as a crypto shill, but check out the crypto.com card. It could be pretty useful for you (if they give you one, not sure about the whole sanctions situation). I have been using it for daily payments for over a year and I'm pretty happy with my experience.
- xiphias2 5y ago
  If you don't own the private key, you are not really ahead. Money of Russian people on crypto exchanges will be frozen. Buy a Trezor, it can save your financial life.

jorgesborges 5y ago

I’m sorry to hear about your situation and I’m wishing you, your friends, and your family the best of luck. I don’t consider you or anyone in your situation an enemy. Take care.

formvoltron 5y ago

We are afraid Putin will use nuclear weapons. We don't like that he came from a KGB background and that he seems to be friends with mafia. And that he likes to assassinate his rivals. If the Russian people are so much against Putin and on the side of the West, then why not arrange them to all leave their apartments at the same time, to walk into their central squares, and to start shaking their keys -- as the Czechs did.

jacquesm 5y ago
Fair chance it would turn into a bloodbath. Better would a national strike. Equally difficult to organize but much harder to attack.
- formvoltron 5y ago
  I'm talking about ALL the people that are against Putin. Which if this guy is to be believed is most of the people. They are not going to kill most of their own people. A million people marching in Moscow would change minds.
  - jacquesm 5y ago
    I agree it would change minds. And at the same time I'm pretty sure it would end in a bloodbath. Passive resistance against a dictatorship is a lot safer than active resistance. Of course the latter sends a more powerful message but it makes it obvious who to target, when and where and the reflexive response will be to lash out. Still, there is safety in numbers so maybe it would work. But I would not immediately bet on it, otoh simply crippling the Russian economy further could be achieved by inaction.
    - formvoltron 5y ago
      There are already young people brave enough to protest with just 2000 people protesting. I'm talking about a million people standing outside and walking towards the Red Square, shaking their keys. If Russians cannot manage this, then I do not have sympathy whatsoever.

formvoltron 5y ago

kgeist 5y ago
>You are Russian and therefore you are responsible for your government's actions. Imho that works in democracies, not dictatorships. Putin is holding Russians hostage.
ecf 5y ago
Can’t have an autocracy without the willing participation of apathetic citizens.
jdrc 5y ago
That's easy to say for people on the outside. Russians who want change can influence one another, build up awareness, but standing in front of tanks will just most likely lead to pulverization and it's not like russians are strangers to popular uprising, but the trauma of the fall of the soviet empire has a poisonous influence not just on the old generations
- formvoltron 5y ago
  Yes I realize it would be hard for them. But who else on the planet has a better chance? The reality is that everyone is paying these sanction costs. Europe and US companies too. Even poor people in Morocco will pay the costs in the form of increased food costs or food scarcity. Russians seem to want a get out of jail for free card, but that would not be fair at all.
Procedural 5y ago
> Another reason we don't like Russians is that they are afraid to stand up to their own government. What about billions of Chinese that are afraid to stand up to the communist party?
- seanmcdirmid 5y ago
  Billions of Chinese? The PRC only has 1.4 billion people or so.

CGamesPlay 5y ago

Do you have a source for the flights thing? I hadn't heard that yet. Was your phone inspected when you left the country? Were you interviewed?

therusskiy 5y ago
Sorry the news are in Russian: https://yandex.ru/news/story/Rosaviaciya_rekomendovala_perevozchikam_s6_marta_priostanovit_rejsy_zarubezh--85e6bdb6884b1a079d9f9c1a3c16fb2d https://yandex.ru/news/story/Rosaviaciya_rekomendovala_perev... As for the "interview", thankfully no, but FSB does stop a lot of people to inspect their phones and question them, which can take 40 minutes. I had to clean my social networks and direct messages of any posts against the war and the government.
- dunkelheit 5y ago
  AFAIU this applies only to Russian airlines because their leased planes can be confiscated abroad. But e.g. Turkish airlines can still fly.
  - therusskiy 5y ago
    you are right, there are still a handful of companies that fly to Russia. For now. But it's going to be close to impossible to buy tickets for them soon due to 90+% of other flights being cancelled and the high demand. Also, the situation changes literally every hour, these companies may be next. Putin realises that people with money and education are trying to run away and actively fights it.

darkarmani 5y ago

I'm so sorry you are going through this. Good luck. I hope you are able to get settled safely.

nuccy 5y ago

[disclaimer: Ukrainian here] > Older generation (who are pro-Russian) suggested being careful around young people as they may be hostile to Russians, even those who are running away from Putin Of course, instead of even attempting to change your country, where there is no war on its territory, you flee. Why should they be kind to you? > The disheartening thing is that even if you never supported Putin, other countries treat you as enemy. Silence equals support. Молчание - знак согласия. (A popular russian saying).

the_lonely_road 5y ago
Rude and unnecessary. I’m not going to die fighting FOR my country so I’m sure as hell not going to die fighting against it.
- nuccy 5y ago
  Words are not as rude as bullets.
- forty 5y ago
  Fighting against Putin would probably be fighting FOR your country at that point :) I'm not pretending I would be better than you and honestly I would certainly have fled too in similar situation. But at some point someone is going to have to do something about the Putin situation, and unfortunately at this point, only Russians can do something that have not a significant chance to end in nuclear apocalypse. Hopefully some brave people over there that remember how tyrans should be treated (but once again, I would never blame anyone for not endangering their families)
BobbyJo 5y ago
Leaving is an effective way of changing it.
- bitcharmer 5y ago
  On the contrary. Leaving results in cementing the status quo because the population that remains are blind Putin followers.

skeletal88 5y ago

I have a colleague from Russia who moved here a few years ago. But.. still he is using talking-points that come from Kremlin's propaganda, like "The US will fight Russia to the last ukrainian" and "I would feel safer here if we weren't in NATO, this makes us a target for Russia" and "You know that it was promised that NATO wouldn't expand?" and "Your country joined the Soviet Union voluntarily". So.. even when some people move abroad and say they don't support Putin, they still have this.. imperialist mindset that everyone is out to get Russia and it's actions are justified to protect itself and so on. As an explanation about what people think, not as an accusation against you.

therusskiy 5y ago
he came to Georgia under difference circumstances though, not running away from the government like the people fleeing right now
CapricornNoble 5y ago
>>>still he is using talking-points that come from Kremlin's propaganda, like "The US will fight Russia to the last ukrainian" That's considered "Russian propaganda"? We've managed to goad Putin into grinding up his conventional military in a large-scale war. We've set the Russian economy back decades. And we've so far pulled off both of these, without any NATO member paying a massive price in blood for it. Russian propaganda? More like "Greatest US foreign policy success of the 21st century". I've been really critical of the moves we've made in Europe for the past 10-15 years, but I have to say, if this doesn't escalate into WW3....kudos to the CIA and the State Department for playing the long game and having it work out. But it definitely sucks for the Ukrainians. I still would have preferred the relationship we had with Russia in the early 2000s. It would have been nice to leverage Russia's geographic position in the inevitable confrontation with China: a bunch of Russian tank divisions under a nuclear umbrella in Siberia would keep China nervous about a vulnerable 2nd front, and perhaps unable to mass combat power against Taiwan/Japan/etc.
- skeletal88 5y ago
  He explained that the crisis in Russia is the fault of / was somehow started by the US. He said that a few months ago, not this week. Now he doesn't say anything anymore.

ramoz 5y ago

Why is the internet situation like?

mgh2 5y ago

Ideas for options here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30552091 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30552091

quadcore 5y ago

Maybe there is something you can work out with TerraUSD (algorithmic stablecoin) and localbitcoins.com

vmception 5y ago
DAI and MIM are a more battle tested model than TerraUSD But yes a basket of stablecoins is good right now
- quadcore 5y ago
  DAI and MIM are KYC-ed at their root so I wouldnt go for them, Edit: you have to be compliant to a subset of KYC to run their api - sorry i dont have the detail on top of my head, I do know its the case for USDC and last I checked DAI was KYC-rooted too. Everything thats stablecoin usd is KYC-rooted but TerraUSD which you cant purchase with usd on some major fiat ramp. Also KYC is recursive right, if youre KYCed you got to KYC your users too
  - vmception 5y ago
    What do you mean by that, you can buy and earn DAI and MIM without KYC, and they continue to function autonomously whether the founders have a regulatory issue, have survived and maintained their peg during volatile stress tests with the collateral, and they can be sold without KYC, they also cannot freeze an individual address Edit: to your edit, thats not accurate, all data is available onchain and can be read, new dai and mim can be created by adding collateral, programmatic interaction is done via ABIs, there is no need for a third party API even if they are offering one
    - quadcore 5y ago
      thats not accurate, all data is available onchain and can be read, new dai and mim can be created by adding collateral, programmatic interaction is done via ABIs, there is no need for a third party API even if they are offering one Youre saying, atm, all solutions are KYC-rooted but you can create a grey area yourself without being KYCed yourself (if youre lucky). Youre certainly right. FYI I was giving a practical advice to someone in need of a sure grey-enough area thats available now.

baskethead 5y ago

I think only lesser people would think all Russians support Putin. Every Russian I know in Silicon Valley that are sickened by Putin. Eric Stalwall, the House Representative in East Bay (of the SF Bay Area) proposed to kick all Russian students out of the US. That sickened me and I won't forget this going forward (he ran for Democratic nominee for President in 2020). How can you blame citizens of the country for the country's actions? That's like Japanese internment camps all over again. I can't believe in 2021 someone would propose such a stupid and horrifying thing, especially in the Bay Area. I'm glad you were able to escape safely.

jquery 5y ago
I know lots of Russians that support Putin, unfortunately. I wish it were as simple as Putin was acting alone but he is a popular Russian figure.
- gip 5y ago
  I have family / friends in Russia and outside Russia and I’m seeing the same thing: Putin is popular. I suspect it had to do with how the Russian identity is build. I keep telling these people that a country is defined by what it does in the world, not by what it is or was. But at the end of the day I think a lot of them consider Russia as a « powerful » country that should have an empire.
- shrimp_emoji 5y ago
  I think if you multiply the number of Russians who protested against the Ukraine invasion by 100, it's 1% of Russians, max.

lmilcin 5y ago

I would like to discern between personal and collective responsibility. Yes, it is disheartening that so many people will personally pay for this regardless of the fact that they might even be vocally opposing this and other actions. No, I don't think Russian people are absolved as a nation. I believe that nations are collectively responsible for their actions. Explanations that "I have only followed orders" have long been proven to be false defence. Every person that continues to work, pay their taxes, follow their roles, close their eyes and ears to the atrocities without opposing the tyrant is cooperating and enabling him to do what he wants. In the end you must recognise that Putin is only a human being and he is personally unable to do anything substantial. It is only other people that are enabling him that make this tragedy possible. Some nations decide to pay the blood price and revolt, and some decided to not do that. Ukrainians bled for their right to be a democratic country. So many other nations paid so heavy price because they did not want go with what was easy and comfortable but rather decided to do what is right.

TravelPiglet 5y ago
Nobody is forcing Russia to be part of the global economy and global society. They are abusing the system as much as they can get away with and now complain when the most of the world agrees that it worth stop supporting an abusive country. If you don’t want to follow the rules, don’t complain when you’re kicked out.

andrey123 5y ago

[Disclaimer: Russian] According to my estimations, probably at least 95% of people who are "against the war" do not go out to participate in protests. My estimations are based on talking to my colleagues (large IT company). Yes, starting from now, protesting becomes more risky (you may go to jail for years if you get caught second time). But just a week ago, it was mostly harmless (yes, some people get arrested for few days, but will anyone say it's comparable to what's going on in Ukraine?). And from these 5% who go out now many (including myself) were not protesting in 2014. So to be honest I cannot see how we are not responsible. [Edit] 95% is a VERY conservative estimation. [Edit2] And of course people from other countries are also responsible for crimes which their governments are or were doing (many of these crimes resulted in many more deaths than this conflict yet - hopefully it will remain so). So don't feel good about yourself guys.

artyomxyz 5y ago
In some way you’re right. But it’s important to note that we haven’t chosen this government, we haven’t chosen this country we live in. I personally lost any hope to change it one year earlier after participating in pro-Navalny protests. Now, I just don’t want to have anything in common with this government. I’m choosing another one. And I’m not going to pay taxes to Russian government anymore
- antattack 5y ago
  Don't beat yourself over it. Now that you're out of the country, you can donate time and/or money to help fight for tolerance and against Putin regime.
  - ativzzz 5y ago
    For the vast majority of normal people, just leaving the country without plans of coming back is the best they can do.
  - vixen99 5y ago
    That would be a tough fight according to this poll reported on the 23rd February. Probably a disturbing result for those who think the Russians are not broadly in line with the government. However at that time only 13% thought it likely for the Kremlin to initiate military action towards Ukraine. https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2022/02/europe/russia-ukraine-crisis-poll-intl/index.html https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2022/02/europe/russia-uk...

BbzzbB 5y ago

I'm glad you left in time, hope you find somewhere to stay and that your loved ones are safe too. First sinister thought that crossed my mind when two days ago I heard he'll likely prevent people fleeing on the 5th was that there must be some 40 million "fighting aged" men not doing essential work (for a military economy) under a despot out of medieval times. How significant do you consider the probability he's blocked people from leaving and declared martial law in order to conscript hordes of non-reserved men into military training or straight into the meat grinder? Especially if Ukraine drags on for weeks and months, let along if there's contagion to other countries.. Do you think that's the path Russia could be on or it's more about avoiding an exodus and increased inner panic?

belter 5y ago
"Putin denies rumours Russia was going to declare martial law" https://www.business-standard.com/article/international/putin-denies-rumours-russia-was-going-to-declare-martial-law-122030500815_1.html https://www.business-standard.com/article/international/puti... This mean will be done next week....
- BbzzbB 5y ago
  Yeah right, just like he's denazifying Ukraine. He "won't have a choice" (horrific words in this context) but to use military force to compel the populace into complacency if there's merely a hint of civil revolution.
  - hackerfromthefu 5y ago
    Historically, when enough people rise their countrymen become reluctant to shoot them. There seems to be a tipping point required, which probably varies between cultures. It's probably caused by a combination of empathy and fear of recriminations should the revolution become successful.

grujicd 5y ago

AFAIK Air Serbia is still flying to Russia, and even doubled number of flights few days ago because of demand. I don’t know what’s the situation with visas, how long you can stay, how it is to open bank account, etc but historically Serbia is friendly towards Russia. Government does condemn Russia for this war, but I don’t think we’ll be implementing any kind of sanctions. Elections are in a month, and noone wants to loose votes of pro-russian part of population.

dennis_moore 5y ago
With the EU having banned Russia from its airspace, I wonder what route these flights take.
- labster 5y ago
  Direct, right? Air Serbia is presumably based in Serbia, not Russia.
- 5e92cb50239222b 5y ago
  My friend is leaving Moscow for Serbia soon. They use Serbian airplanes which don't have any restrictions put on them.
- tw20212021 5y ago
  Just check flightradar24. I see one from Moscow to Belgrade flying now over Poland.
- belter 5y ago
  "Air Serbia Doubles Moscow Frequencies To Meet Demand" https://simpleflying.com/air-serbia-doubles-moscow-frequencies/ https://simpleflying.com/air-serbia-doubles-moscow-frequenci...
- pulse7 5y ago
  Serbia does not have any flight restrictions - neither in EU and neither in Russia and Belarus. So they can fly between Moscow and Belgrade...
5y ago

belter 5y ago

Are the Russians of the older generation, that get their news from most of the official news, buying into the government story? Or do you think everybody already realized what is really happening in Ukraine?

djhn 5y ago
The boomers are unfortunately lost to propaganda.
- goldenkey 5y ago
  That's crazy considering that the FSB bombed its own citizens to get Putin into power.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_apartment_bombings https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_apartment_bombings
  - filoleg 5y ago
    It is only crazy if you assume that those people are both aware of those bombings and believe that it was the FSB doing the bombings (and not "it was actually western-backed terrorists, any claims stating otherwise are just anti-Russian propaganda from the west"). Which, in this case, is far from given.
jotm 5y ago
Well, from the comments on Youtube, they're insanely indoctrinated. Zero chance it's all bots.

Etherlord87 5y ago

I am empathetic to your situation, but if you lived in Russia and paid taxes in Russia, you did support Putin. You also supported him just by living there, which was a statement that Russia is a place worth living in. Also if you didn't protest, you did support him passively. The same can be said, probably to a lesser extent, about most of us living outside of Russia - if we bought things coming from Russia or didn't criticize Russia, we supported Putin in a similar way. Though it could be argued we, non-russian citizens don't have the responsibility for russian government's actions... I'm wondering if resigning from a russian citizenship can help with the sanctions against russians. Surely openly criticizing the war and/or Putin with some kind of stickers or t-shirts or maybe Ukrainian colors can alleviate contact with actual people. I think no one pretends sanctions are fair. But what's a better alternative?

johannes1234321 5y ago
> You also supported him just by living there, which was a statement that Russia is a place worth living in. Not that people necessarily have a choice. They need visa, working permits (qualification!), money to create a new live elsewhere and also probably have family or health related things keeping one in a place. > Also if you didn't protest, you did support him passively. In a totalitarian state demonstrating isn't as easy as in other places. You easily end up in jail. Of course it is true that a state can only exist while supported by the inhabitants, but it's not as easy as saying "leave or be loud in protest"
helixfelix 5y ago
Your comment made me do a double take. Surely an individual is not to blame for a countries injustices, imperialism, and war crimes? Otherwise large parts of the developed world would have to be abandoned immediately. We need to consider borders, immigration, work authorization, regulations, wealth, health, friends, family responsibilities, kids, partners and their own constraints - before being able to pass judgement. It's takes incredible privelege to propose that one can just pickup their bags and go wherever they want in the world.
evv555 5y ago
>The same can be said, probably to a lesser extent, about most of us living outside of Russia - if we bought things coming from Russia or didn't criticize Russia, we supported Putin in a similar way. Though it could be argued we, non-russian citizens don't have the responsibility for russian government's actions... If that's the threshold for responsibility then that's barely scratching the surface. Western banks have profited from the enabling and corruption of oligarchs by laundering their assets with impunity for decades. Corporations like Cisco had no problem doing technology transfers for surveillance technology that now makes opposing so dangerous. German politicians gutted their nuclear energy/energy security in the name of going green. European politicians have pushed an agenda of appeasement in the name of moral relativism and "stakeholder capitalism". This is a crescendo that has been building for decades at the benefit of Westerners and the expense of normal Eastern Bloc people.

atlantas 5y ago

> The disheartening thing is that even if you never supported Putin, other countries treat you as enemy. This is precisely what leads to atrocities like Japanese internment camps. We are repeating dark history in real time and it's being actively cheered on by a bloodthirsty mob who have no regard for innocent civilians and kids.

ip26 5y ago
There is actually a difference here; the parent comment is a Russian refugee. The Japanese internment camps housed mostly Japanese Americans who already lived in the United States before the war and were predominantly US citizens. Refugees are human & need help, but it isn't quite the same.
- vertis 5y ago
  It's the same in some ways. Already there has been an uptick in hate towards Russians outside Russia. Also Belarusians[0]. Even if they're anti-Putin and anti-war, if they've been trying for years to change things they can't escape being Russian/Belorusian. [0]: https://twitter.com/AlinaLeonovaSF/status/1499457928562102274 https://twitter.com/AlinaLeonovaSF/status/149945792856210227...
justinpowers 5y ago
> it's being actively cheered on by a bloodthirsty mob who have no regard for innocent civilians and kids. What are you referring to here specifically? Genuinely curious. I haven’t encountered much anti-Russian sentiment (yet), I’ve only noticed anger towards Putin, his cronies, and their soldiers. As far as I can tell, most understand that the Russian people didn’t choose this despite how little they did (or could do) to stop it.
- evv555 5y ago
  In US there are several articles about public figure Russians being cancelled for refusing to speak out against Putin and anecdotes of "Russian" restaurants being boycotted vandalized. Publicly speaking out like is being demanded is dangerous and many US "Russian" businesses aren't actually Russian owned but catering to Russian speakers(including Ukrainians).

9214 5y ago

FYI, I heard that Georgia plans to introduce visas for Russians, because local population begins to worry of all the immigrants taking jobs. Meanwhile, in Russia's remote places (small town in Ural region) some grocerry shops have imposed food rationing for essentials (sugar, bread, wheat, flour, etc) because of panic-bying. And it's snowing as if during Ragnarök, nordic end of times. Among my friends and relatives we half-jokingly discuss that, while potato harvesting and mushroom picking were a sort of recreational leisure activity in the past, now they are destined to become an essential part of this summer season.

BbzzbB 5y ago
Georgia and Moldova asked to joined the EU 2 days ago, the Russo-Ukrainian war basically started when they turned to the EU rather then the EAEU (Euromaiden). I'm afraid it won't be exactly be a safe place for long, I'd try to move farther away if I was exiling from Russia.
jotm 5y ago
Afaik, if there's one thing Russia is actually self-sustained at, it's food and energy. Would there really be shortages of food because of the sanctions?
- helge9210 5y ago
  Of course. Famine is the natural stable state for Russia. Russia was on the brink of famine in 1990-1991. Putin's political career started from stealing and reselling humanitarian aid from USA in St Petersburg. He was saved from prosecution by mayor Sobchak. That's why his daughter Ksenia Sobchak always got preferential treatment.
trhway 5y ago
>FYI, I heard that Georgia plans to introduce visas for Russians, because local population begins to worry of all the immigrants taking jobs. i think the Ukrainians fleeing Russian bombs should take priority over Russians fleeing discomfort.

einarfd 5y ago

> A lot of my IT friends have fled the country, almost everyone who could. My heart is bleeding thinking of friends who wanted to leave on March 9, not sure what they can do now. Depending on where in Russian they live. They could flee in their car. Finland seem to be popular (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-60624500 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-60624500). The Baltics, Norway and possibly Sweden on a ferry or boat could also be options.

the_mitsuhiko 5y ago
Land borders are closed and require special permission.
- jpindar 5y ago
  It's a long border. Honest question - is it all well patrolled?

llIIllIIllIIl 5y ago

Go fight against Russian zombies in Ukraine to win your right to have a bank account.

foxfluff 5y ago
Ukraine is not accepting volunteers from Russia. https://twitter.com/KyivIndependent/status/1500117513039982594?cxt=HHwWhMC54cO7vtEpAAAA https://twitter.com/KyivIndependent/status/15001175130399825... I think it's the right call, given that they have a problem with Russian saboteurs who snuck into the country before the war started. They're currently discouraging the use of the Russian language (many Ukrainians speak both Ukrainian and Russian) to avoid suspicion. Tension is extremely high right now, checkpoints everywhere around Kyiv, guards on the edge, and there's a huge risk of escalation if you're suspected of being on the wrong side. There's been many videos of alleged saboteurs getting arrested, and the rumor is that your ability to pronounce a Ukrainian word correctly is used as a test to find out where you're from.
- llIIllIIllIIl 5y ago
  Nobody said it would be easy.

T-A 5y ago

In 2014, after I’d just emigrated from Russia because of my opposition to the Crimea annexation, I bristled when Ukrainians told me the move didn’t erase my responsibility. I was sure I couldn’t have done anything to change the nature of the Russian regime. “You go fight Putin,” I snarled back at my Ukrainian accusers. “See where you get with that.” It fills me with shame to remember that now, because of course they are fighting him as I write this — and we didn’t really do so even when it wasn’t as dangerous as in the current climate of cruel suppression. https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-03-05/ukraine-will-teach-ordinary-russians-some-german-lessons https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-03-05/ukrain...

tguvot 5y ago

>The recent news is that starting March 6 all international flights are suspended, the trap has closed. This is international flights of russian airlines that has leased airplanes. Currently like 60% of planes are leased and companies started to demand their planes back. Some planes already get arrested. This is move essentially to prevent returning airplanes because otherwise civil aviation (and not only) in russia will be dead. It's still interesting to see, what they will do with spare parts. Also I think some airplanes must get some updates from "cloud" daily, which will probably be blocked as well

stickfigure 5y ago

Honest advice: Get a tshirt with "FUCK PUTIN" printed on it. Wear it everywhere, even if it's covered up by a jacket. If you find yourself in a risky situation, make sure it's showing.

goldenkey 5y ago
Then they risk getting shot or stabbed by a pro Putin thug or agent. Your advice is patently bad.
- Etherlord87 5y ago
  Are russians really such cowards? I always thought to the opposite, but this constant look for excuses why not rebel against putin, why not protest, and now even why not wear a t-shirt really changes my mind. If you're russian, and you call yourself a russian, and you speak russian, and you don't change that for years, and feel no responsibility for what your government is doing whatsoever, honestly, you deserve the sanctions.
  - goldenkey 5y ago
    It's not cowardly to avoid wearing controversial shirts. There are nuts everywhere just look for reasons to be set off.
    - Etherlord87 5y ago
      Maybe I'm just brave, because I find that cowardly. But then what kind of word do we use to describe Ukrainians - heroic, I guess.
      - muzika 5y ago
        Wearing a shirt with profanity printed on it is not heroic.
        5y ago

dkjaudyeqooe 5y ago

Regarding a bank account, try wise.com they will give you US bank details (among others) which you can use to get paid, and a debit card.

chinathrow 5y ago
For Russians at this time? I am not so sure.
- dkjaudyeqooe 5y ago
  There are no rules against doing business with non-sanctioned individuals in Russia.
  - dragonwriter 5y ago
    Sanctions are changing daily, and lots of business are “self-sanctioning” beyond the formal sanctions boundaries to minimize the cost of dealing with changes (and also of dealing international partners, who are dealing with different sanctions regimes targeting Russia.)

ironcurtain 5y ago

Your people, whether you feel like they are yours is a different question, a fighting and dying. Many believing they do it for their country. You just want easy life for yourself. Nothing is wrong with it, but for the rest of the world you are not just Russian, but coward as well. You’ll be begging for forgiveness and always explaining that you were always against the tyrant to the good white people who think good correct thoughts. Just like those hapless whites cornered by BLM activists. Proper fate.

rainxx 5y ago
Ah, brave russian bear here with us. Don't poke bear, bear chop your country off. Add some BLM propaganda, add good white people and call everyone running for a normal life a coward. Good bot.

DyslexicAtheist 5y ago

> The disheartening thing is that even if you never supported Putin, other countries treat you as enemy. I'm so sorry ordinary Russians have to go through this stigma that Putins war carries. This isn't a war of "Russians" against Ukraine, it is Putins war. And while it's hard not to cheer for the underdog I hope that everyone can stop giving ordinary Russians a hard time. This isn't me "preaching", but verbalizing to myself (first and foremost) of how I want to act in every moment, and how I respond to violence from the comfort of a (currently) safe country when my lizard brain is under perpetual bombardment with visuals of horror and injustice.

askura 5y ago

Is this true? I had a friend who was meant to come over from Russia to the UK to visit in a few weeks. That's fucked. Best of luck to you mate. I know it can't be easy right now :/

bufferoverflow 5y ago

You supported Putin and his regime by paying taxes, buying russian products, which means even more taxes. You supported it silently by not going to the streets and protesting. (I was born in Russia, but never worked there. We left the year Putin came to power.)

dragonwriter 5y ago

> The disheartening thing is that even if you never supported Putin, other countries treat you as enemy. > I am at Georgia now While I sympathize with your plight, Russian infiltration tactics used in Ukraine and elsewhere make it somewhat understandable that Georgia (parts of which are currently under Russian occupation) might be somewhat suspicious of Russians, even those not obviously connected to the Russian government, especially after the recent escalation from the similar partial occupation of Ukraine.

tim333 5y ago

I did a kind of escape from London to Egypt over the early 2021 covid lockdown, for a few months. You might have been better hanging out there a bit! They are probably kinda neutral on the Russia stuff. You can get a residents card in a few days by paying like $90 and I think can open a bank account.

FerociousTimes 5y ago

Why didn't you stay in Egypt till the dust settles? You can obtain a visa up to 90 days and the country is home to a thriving Russian-speaking community not to mention it enjoys a relatively modest cost of living, so you wouldn't be burning through your savings till you work out a good arrangement for your job and life for the time being.

pacifier007 5y ago

fedorhk 5y ago

Hey, have you considered https://www.e-resident.gov.ee/ https://www.e-resident.gov.ee/ can be an option to receive money outside Russian bank system. My friend in Georgia (Russian) told me that while TBC refuse to open accounts, Bank of Georgia still do. Also seems like leading party pushing against this discrimination. Situation may change fast (already?) so check Bank of Georgia asap.

kragen 5y ago

Is Bitcoin a plausible option in Georgia? I know most US companies don't pay in Bitcoin, but some do.

lebed2045 5y ago

I hope you found the way to use your money abroad. By many requests I recorded to my friends a tutorial (on Russian language) how to transfer money abroad and minimising risk https://youtu.be/9ZcOfrjseFw https://youtu.be/9ZcOfrjseFw (using stablecoins and p2p on/off ramps)