Thousands are also fleeing Russia, others are already returning

Created: 04/19/2022, 04:48 am

By: Sandra Kathe

Many people have left Russia for fear of border closures and mobilization.

Germany is also planning “unbureaucratic protection” for them.

Moscow – Because the Russian attack on Ukraine * has been going on for weeks, many Russians who left their homeland in panic have now returned.

As the British newspaper Guardian reports, most of them fled because they feared forced mobilization and economic chaos in Russia*.

Many also suspected that the borders would be closed soon.

Instead, many of them faced unexpected troubles abroad.

A former Russian journalist who traveled to Turkey* in a panic tells of bank accounts blocked due to Western sanctions and difficulties in supporting her mother in Moscow from abroad.

As she tells the Guardian, she fled fearing "Russia would be sealed off into a kind of North Korea*" but came back "for the money, to be honest."

Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the number of flights between Russian airports and the Armenian capital Yerevan is said to have quadrupled (archive photo).

© Karen Minasyan/AFP

People in Russia flee Ukraine war: Estimates of 75,000 refugees in Armenia

How many Russians have felt the same way since the outbreak of the Ukraine war* is difficult to quantify because there are no official figures on leaving Russia.

Google search trends, which documented how many Russians were looking for information on how to leave the country in the first few days after the start of the war, indicated that at least some of them might have considered fleeing.

Numerous groups on the Telegram news platform, which is widely used in Russia, have also been set up on this topic.

Research by the Mannheim-based research institute Leibniz Center for European Economic Research (ZEW) also indicates that thousands of people may have left Russia after the war began.

According to information from the ZEW, it is observed "that the number of Russian immigrants to former Soviet republics in the Caucasus and Central Asia as well as Turkey is currently increasing rapidly".

For example, Armenia took in up to 75,000 people from Russia in the first three weeks of the war.

According to ZEW, flight connections between the capital Yerevan and Russian cities have quadrupled compared to the time before the war began.

Refugees after the outbreak of the Ukraine war: research institute expects “migration boost”

In a statement published on Wednesday (April 13, 2022), a ZEW research team predicts a possible imminent “migration surge from Russia”, which could add to the more than 4.5 million refugees from Ukraine to date.

What distinguishes the group of Russian emigrants from those from Ukraine is that "the Russian emigrant group has an above-average education".

While people from all social classes have to flee Ukraine, IT specialists, creative people and people with good foreign language skills in particular see reasons to leave the country because of the war, which the Russian government says is just a “special operation”. act.

Some of the returnees the Guardian spoke to have expressed shock at how little people at home want to know about the war in Ukraine.

The former Russian journalist reports, for example, that she had expected "angry pro-war statements" and "shocking scenes on the streets".

Instead, it feels like "people are just ignoring the war."

Russian refugees in Germany: Buschmann announces unbureaucratic admission

ZEW migration expert Katrin Sommerfeld predicts that Germany could also become a popular destination for Russians “due to the strong economic ties between Germany and Russia in the past and the strong Russian diaspora in Germany”.

She therefore recommends that politicians "develop an appropriate strategy for dealing with immigrants from Russia".

A recent statement by FDP Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann to the newspaper Welt am Sonntag indicates that the recommendation may already have reached the federal government.

Accordingly, the politician has also promised Russian refugees quick and unbureaucratic protection.

The federal government also wants to spare refugees from Russia lengthy asylum procedures and ensure “that these people also receive a work permit as quickly as possible.

There will be a blanket permit for all those who have already worked for international companies.

These people can work here immediately,” announced Buschmann.

(ska with AFP)