Everyday from the world: Russians’ nervousness has grown rapidly due to the war, writes Moscow correspondent Erkka Mikkonen.
MOSCOW Early Thursday morning, I woke up to a phone call about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
A few hours later, I received a message from my tenant from St. Petersburg From Timur. He said he would terminate the lease and leave the country as soon as possible.
Timur is a Russian coder and works for a US IT company. Suddenly, his financial position would improve significantly as the ruble plummets and his salary comes in dollars.
But like many other Russian young adults, Timur doesn’t want to live with the uncertainty that the Russian invasion and Western retaliation will bring when it comes.
The payment of wages may come to a complete halt when the West introduces one of its most severe sanctions, namely the international SWIFT payment system for the closure of Russia.
Uncertainty about the future bite people I know in Russia.
Several foreign acquaintances have left Moscow in recent days. The United States has called on its citizens to leave the country immediately. The Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs also advises avoiding all travel to Russia.
All air traffic to the west will soon become completely congested as almost all of Europe has closed its airspace to Russia. The Russians have not been allowed to cross their land border for a long time without a special reason due to the country’s own interest rate restrictions.
Many of my Russian acquaintances are also now thinking about leaving and when it will be possible at all. Katja fears that Russia could completely block the entry of its citizens, which would lead to complete chaos.
Vitalik already had time to buy a plane ticket to Istanbul before prices multiplied. He intends to follow the development of the situation from there.
Danja while considering a move to Georgia, much of the opposition persecuted by the authorities has already left.
Many in my circle of acquaintances have now awakened to a reality where one has even begun to talk about the threat of nuclear war. Nervousness has quickly risen to a new level, and I see panic around me.
In my own Russian bubble practically everyone opposes the war.
They are Russians under the age of forty, following news from the independent media who do not support the president anyway. Vladimir Putinia and his corrupt administration.
Protesters opposing the war on the streets of Moscow are mainly active citizens in their twenties and thirties.
So is my friend Vanja, who was arrested by police for 10 hours on Sunday. He is now awaiting a court decision on the fine.
According to OVD information following the protests, the authorities arrested a total of about 2,800 citizens in more than 50 Russian cities on Sunday.
At the same time, the Kremlin-controlled media are branding opponents of the war as self-interested traitors who are better off keeping quiet or leaving the country altogether.
Stas says she is trying in vain to turn her mother away from the propaganda drummed by television. It markets the offensive war as a peace operation to save Ukraine from the Nazis and secure world peace.
The Russian opposition is designated military action as Putin’s war. Many opponents of the current regime see the attack as a civil war in which they naturally choose the Ukrainian side.
The Ukrainians themselves have called the events a patriotic war. They are fighting for the existence of their entire nation.
However, the majority of Russians remain silent, thus supporting their country’s hostilities. As the war drags on and state propaganda intensifies, the division of the people into opposing camps widens further – and the generation gap widens.
At the same time, the authorities’ grip on keeping the people under control is tightening.
The European Union has decided to close the broadcasts of Russian state-owned media companies RT and Sputnik in order to silence Russian war propaganda in EU countries.
The decision could lead to severe retaliation, potentially complicating the work of Western journalists in Russia.
In the worst case, me and the entire EPN broadcast will also be driven out of the country.
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