PETER In a warehouse in a red-brick old industrial building in the Admiralty district Jelena Dolzhenko organizes the donated goods brought by the people of St. Petersburg on the shelf. Gumsklad, or Humanitarian Warehouse, collects clothes, bedding, dishes and everything else needed for war refugees from Ukraine to St. Petersburg.
Jelena Dolženko says that at first people came from Luhansk and Donetsk regions, then from Kharkiv, Kherson and Izjum regions, among others.
– They come with a suitcase, with only the most necessary. Here they rent an empty apartment. Clothes are needed, children grow, seasons change. Constantly asking for dishes. They need everything they need in everyday life, and we try to help with that, says Jelena Dolženko.
Information about help is spread through the bus radio and the Telegram messaging service.
Dolženko himself is a refugee from the Luhansk region. He needed a job, and now he works full-time at this aid station set up by volunteers from St. Petersburg.
He says that refugees usually have relatives or friends in the city. At first, he himself lived with his friend.
Some refugees could go in the direction of Russia because they had connections there. Still others had no choice when they got stuck on the wrong side of the front line. Ukraine and human rights organizations Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have also accused Russia of the forced transfer of the Ukrainian population to Russia.
For example, the news agency AP has written about transporting refugees to different parts of the vast country.
The position of Ukrainian refugees who ended up in Russia is vulnerable, and their fates therefore want to remain in the dark.
Many who fled Ukraine to Russia do not want to speak to foreign media. The fear might be difficulties with the Russian authorities and on the other hand also reactions at home.
At the warehouse, one refugee woman says that she came a year ago with her husband and child from the Kharkiv area and settled with her relatives.
Without family contact, the family would hardly have come to St. Petersburg, because the city is very expensive. At first, they considered traveling further to Poland or the Czech Republic, but because of the language, they decided to stay in Russia.
Jelena Dolženko says that many refugees would of course like to return home.
– Those who have something left behind will of course return. Those who were left with nothing have to start life from scratch, and of course it’s not easy.
Refugees struggle with paperwork
The charity foundation Aprel or Huhtikuu supports children in orphanages, foster families and families in crisis.
– Recently, refugees who have had to leave Ukraine for St. Petersburg and have to start their lives from scratch have joined the group of beneficiaries, says the director of the foundation Lyudmila Umanets.
Many refugee families are faced with finding an apartment and a job. Help is needed in compiling and translating official documents.
– There are many jobs available in St. Petersburg, but another question is the quality of the work offered, coordinator Vera Kalmyshkova says.
To formalize their status, refugees can apply for temporary asylum or Russian citizenship. Without official status, they have to seek services from the informal labor market.
Inevitably, even a Russian passport is not enough. Many employers also require proper, official registration in St. Petersburg, and it is difficult to get it if you live on rent or with relatives and friends.
Kalmyškova finds it touching that, despite all the problems, families have a great desire to get to know St. Petersburg’s culture.
– When we can organize invitations or free tickets for them, people praise us as if we had given them a huge sum of money.
The foundation organizes events for children on weekends, such as cooking and theater courses, book clubs.
– We have mixed groups with children from crisis families, children’s homes and refugee families. They learn together how to deal with each other, how to find a common language, a coordinator who guides the weekend activities Olja Šibanova says.
– It’s often not easy, because they are teenagers and most of them have various traumas. It’s an adaptation phase. There are adults who don’t yell or judge, but accept them as they are with their difficulties and problems.
There is great uncertainty about the quantities
It is unclear how many refugees from Ukraine there are in Russia.
UNHCR, the UN refugee agency has evaluatedthat almost 2.9 million Ukrainians would have fled the war in the direction of Russia.
Russian state news agency Tass wrote in Februarythat 5.3 million refugees would have come in a year, including 738,000 children.
In Russia, the non-governmental organization Graždanskoye sodejstvie has been declared a foreign agent doubts figures from the authorities exaggerated: Only border crossings are recorded in the data without further explanations.
According to figures from the Russian Statistics Authority, last year only five Ukrainians received official refugee status and 97,591 Ukrainians received temporary asylum.
Russian authorities are likely to direct refugees to take Russian citizenship rather than apply for temporary asylum.
Based on the aid paid by Russia last year, it can be calculated that there might be 1.2 million refugees in the country, but even this number is uncertain. The recipients of the one-time grant have been able to leave the country.
Fewer visitors, worse problems
Orthodox priest Grigori Mihnov-Vaitenko coordinates volunteers’ help and support for refugees in St. Petersburg. The Apostolic Orthodox Church he represents has helped thousands of refugees.
Father Grigori has become known for his anti-war views. In 2014, he announced in his sermon that it is not possible to distribute Holy Communion to those “who voluntarily took up arms in the war with Ukraine”.
In the same year, he asked to resign from the duties of the Russian Orthodox Church.
The organization created in connection with the Apostolic Orthodox Church operates on the basis of private donations. Mihnov-Vaitenko says that society has a great desire to help. The organization also has supporters in healthcare organizations.
– In general, the situation is bad, Mihnov-Vaitenko said in St. Petersburg in March.
According to him, fewer people fleeing the war arrive in St. Petersburg than before. In May of last year, there were 200–300 people per day, in March only 20–30 per day. However, they have more problems, above all with health.
The nature of the visitors has changed, he says.
Those arriving in the first months were simply fleeing the hostilities. Now mostly people who have either suffered from military actions, were wounded, or have chronic diseases that have worsened due to lack of treatment.
Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions now have major problems with medical care.
– Not enough doctors, not enough medicine. Civilians are the last to receive medical help, Mihnov-Vaitenko describes.
His organization organizes treatment for those coming from war zones. Especially in difficult cases, they help Ukrainian refugees to Finland for treatment.
– All in all, there are good doctors and hospitals in St. Petersburg, but if it is a matter of long-term treatment, for example for cancer, we contact our Finnish colleagues. We help to do the first examination, we translate the health documents into English, we communicate, we organize the transport, he says.
Difficulties may arise when crossing the border if the identity papers are not in order. Many people who fled the war may have had their documents left at home or destroyed.
The reasons for staying in Russia are different
Mihnov-Vaitenko estimates that approximately 10 percent of Ukrainians who came to Russia stay in the country.
– The majority of them stay because they have relatives and a place to live, Mihnov-Vaitenko says in March.
Some, on the other hand, stay in temporary accommodation organized by the authorities, usually in holiday homes, hostels and summer camps outside the city. These are often socially disadvantaged. Some, on the other hand, get jobs and rent an apartment themselves.
– We help some families who are trying hard to earn a living, but the money just isn’t enough, says Mihnov-Vaitenko.
The solutions are not easy.
– We cannot make decisions on behalf of the people who have had to flee their homes. We don’t have the right to tell them that you have to stay or leave, says Mihnov-Vaitenko.
– We can advise what would be best to do, what would be safe.
For example, he talks about families with children on the autism spectrum. They did not want to go to Europe because they were afraid that the new language and environment would be too much for their children.
An exchange of information would be needed
International Criminal Court has issued a search warrant Russian President Vladimir Putin and Children’s Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova on suspicion of illegal transfers of children from occupied territories to Russian territory.
Mihnov-Vaitenko does not believe that the Russian state systematically stole thousands of children and placed them in Russian families.
– A picture forms in the head: soldiers with weapons, dogs, train carriages, children on one side, parents on the other. It’s not like that, says Mihnov-Vaitenko.
He believes that the problem is a lack of information: the Ukrainian state simply does not know where the children are. An exchange of information would be needed.
Many children did not run away from the fighting with their parents, but with their grandparents or other relatives.
In the territory of Russia, the authorities registered temporary custody for these relatives.
– That’s what led to these very large numbers last summer, when it was announced that 100,000 children had been taken into temporary guardianship in Russia, says Mihnov-Vaitenko.
He is clear that children from Ukrainian orphanages and orphanages transferred by Russia should be returned to the territory of Ukraine through the humanitarian corridor.
– There are no questions about who is their guardian. Their patron is the state of Ukraine, says Mihnov-Vaitenko. In his opinion, a humanitarian contact group should be established to resolve the matter.