Since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, hundreds of thousands of Russians are thought to have left their country. We consider their identity, their destination, and the motivation behind their departure.
Svetlana is a young woman in her early 30s who hails from a small town. At age 18, she relocated to Moscow to pursue a university physics degree. She pursued a career in product management after graduating from college.
She says, "I love Russia and I enjoyed my life. I never thought I'd have to leave, I planned to retire in Moscow. ".
Those who opposed Moscow's annexation of Crimea in 2014 and new laws that made it easier to punish dissent had already started to leave the country before the conflict in Ukraine. Many of them made their homes in Georgia, the Baltic states, and other EU nations.
Invasion of Ukraine in full force in 2022 marked a turning point for Svetlana.
"As soon as the war began, I realized that it would not end quickly and that few people would demonstrate. I thought it made sense to leave both emotionally and logically," she says. She is currently in Belgrade, the nation of Serbia.
"I wanted to put as much distance as I could between myself and the authorities. ".
What had been a trickle became a stream because many Russians shared her sentiments.
The first wave of emigrants arrived in March and April of last year; they expressed their opposition to the war and dissatisfaction that more Russians had not turned out to protest to the BBC. They thought it was safer to leave because they felt alone and in danger.
In September 2022, President Putin mobilized his military. The authorities referred to it as "partial," but in reality, it meant that the majority of men were subject to the draft.
There were numerous reports of inadequate training and inadequate equipment given to the newly enlisted.
Men and their families started emigrating in large numbers, resulting in lines that stretched for days at the Russian borders with Georgia and Kazakhstan.
Dmitry Peskov, the official spokesman for the Russian president, refuted claims that Russians were fleeing in large numbers to avoid being drafted.
Russian authorities instituted an "online call-up" in April, allowing new recruits to be added to a digital register rather than receiving their papers by hand. He denied the new system was intended to halt the flow of men leaving and said it was simply a matter of convenience.
There are no precise statistics on the number of people who have left Russia, but estimates range from a few hundred thousand to several million.
The UK Ministry of Defense predicted 1 million people would leave Russia by 2022 in May.
This trend is supported by additional estimates of data from different sources. Between 600,000 and 1,000,000 people are expected to leave Russia by 2022, according to sources within the Russian government, according to Forbes magazine. Comparable statistics were published by The Bell and RTVi, two independent Russian media outlets.
As long as you have money and have not been recalled to active duty in the military, leaving Russia is not too difficult. But it's challenging to find a long-term residence.
In the months that followed the start of the war, many nations, primarily the EU and the US, made it challenging for Russians to obtain visas unless they already had family there or were going on business trips.
Russians were not subject to such restrictions and were free to come and go in many other nations, including Georgia and Armenia. They are still able.
Other nations, such as Kazakhstan, reportedly changed their laws earlier this year to stop the flow of Russian immigrants by limiting the number of days they could stay as tourists.
More and more people who have no plans to return to Russia must apply for residency in order to work in the countries where they have settled, though many are finding ways to continue working remotely for Russian employers.
In the past 15 months, approximately 155,000 Russians are known to have received temporary residence permits in the EU as a whole, as well as in a number of Balkan, Caucasus, and Central Asian nations.
According to the European Union Agency for Asylum, nearly 17,000 people have requested political asylum in EU nations, but only about 2,000 have been granted it.
According to the Russian Interior Ministry, the number of applications for foreign passports increased by 40% in 2022 over the previous year.
We have spoken with dozens of Russian emigrants since the war began.
They are from diverse backgrounds. Like us, some of them are journalists, but there are also IT specialists, graphic designers, artists, academics, lawyers, doctors, public relations experts, and linguists. The vast majority are younger than 50. Many believe in the future of Russia being a democratic nation and share the liberal values of the west. The LGBTQ+ community includes some.
There is evidence that those leaving are younger, more educated, and wealthier than those remaining, according to sociologists researching the current Russian emigration. They come from larger cities more frequently.
From St. Petersburg, Thomas.
Being sent to kill other people terrified me because I am a pacifist. I have opposed Russia's approach to Ukraine since 2014. Civilians being invaded and killed is unacceptable, he declares.
He claims that following the start of the extensive invasion, he joined street protests and posted anti-war messages on social media. He was worried about his safety as a gay man.
"After Russia passed laws on the "ban on gay propaganda" and "fake news" about the Russian army, I knew the threat to my life and freedom had grown," he claims.
Thomas tried to convince the Swedish authorities that going back to Russia would be dangerous by requesting political asylum there. He appealed the decision after his application was rejected.
I am working on assembling evidence for my case on my own because I only have the legal right to a set amount of time with a state attorney. ".
It presents a different set of issues for Sergei, who was born and raised in Rostov-on-Don in the south. He's now in Georgia's Tbilisi. On the day that Russia invaded Ukraine, he called a few of his friends, and they all voiced their concerns about the conflict.
The economy was going to decline no matter what happened after, he claims. "We decided to get ready to [leave] when we all got together a week later. ".
The war drew nearer, according to Sergei, as the days passed.
"On the way to Ukraine, we observed a lot of military equipment. There were numerous injured patients in hospitals. Rostov Airport was closed to commercial travel, but there were still a lot of aircraft flying there, and we knew where they were going. ".
Sergei's mother, who had criticized him for not being patriotic enough, called him in September following Putin's mobilization speech and told him to pack his bags and leave. "Sergei spent the entire night driving to Georgia, where he now resides.
My wife and child are still in Russia, I'm sorry. I have to cover both my own costs here and theirs for travel and lodging there. I have two jobs; one is here for a friend's small business, and the other is remote work for my company in Russia. ".
Sergei claims he is saving money to relocate his family from Russia to a different nation. He says his wife, who had previously been hesitant, has now conceded that they need to look for a new life elsewhere.
The impact on the economy of hundreds of thousands of educated and wealthy people leaving the country and taking their money with them was attempted to be minimized by the Russian authorities, but it is clear.
Alfa Bank, the biggest private bank in Russia, predicts that 1% of the country's workforce may have left. Most of those who left are highly skilled professionals. Companies lament hiring challenges and a lack of qualified candidates.
Russians withdrew a record 1 point 2 trillion roubles (roughly £12 billion or $15 billion) from their accounts in the early stages of the war, according to the Central Bank of Russia. This is a scale unseen in Russia since the 2008 financial crisis.
Higher-skilled workers will continue to look for ways to leave, according to economist Sergei Smirnov of the Russian National Academy of Sciences.
"There will be increasingly more demand for people to be able to fix cars or make shoes. Even though I dislike doomsday scenarios, I think this will cause the productivity of the Russian economy to decline even further in the long run. " .
The economist points out that these trends will primarily affect large cities, such as Moscow, St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg.
The majority of the Russian continent won't be aware of these changes because the quality of life in smaller cities, towns, and villages has always been low and will remain so in the future. ".
Svetlana has no plans to go back to Russia while she is in Belgrade.
I currently work for a start-up in Moldova, but I recently applied for a position in the Netherlands. ".
In Tbilisi, Sergei is making applications for jobs in Europe.
And Thomas in Sweden hopes he won't be forced to go back to Russia where he fears homophobic abuse. He is learning Swedish to be able to get any job at all.
Edited by Kateryna Khinkulova.
. For now his life is tough: "I don't have any days off, sometimes I don't have enough time for a night's sleep, I nap in the car. "
