7.49 a.m .: The difficult exile of the Russians in front of Putin
Horrified by the drift of Russian power and the invasion of Ukraine, tens of thousands of Russians chose exile. Once in France, some are finding the welcome is a far cry from the warmth reserved for Ukrainian refugees. “Devastated” by the attack launched by Moscow on February 24, Artio Kotenko decided to leave Saint Petersburg for Finland and then for Paris, where he could “breathe again”. However, obtaining papers very quickly proves to be much more difficult than for Ukrainians fleeing the war.
Antoine Nicolle, a 29-year-old graduate student, helped found the Solidarity Fund for Russians in Exile. Their goal: to provide financial support to people who have left their homeland for political reasons. But, he says, because the fund contains the word “Russian,” banks have been reluctant to work with him on sanctions, so he doesn’t get a bank account.
In Germany, which has had a large Russian minority since the breakup of the USSR, Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck hinted that the government could encourage the immigration of new exiles: “We want them to know that we could really use them.” At the beginning of the war, however, the very broad pro-Ukraine rallies in Germany were partly anti-Russian.