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Economy

Elite Exodus: Russians Escaping The War, And Its Consequences

Estimates are that more than 200,000 people have already crossed Russian borders since Vladimir Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine. It looks to be the start of a mass exodus of well-to-do and middle class Russians that could further decimate the economy.

Backlit photo of a woman wearing a COVID mask passing by a PRADA shop window at the GUM luxury department store in Moscow​

Shopping at the GUM luxury department store in Moscow

Cameron Manley

ST. PETERSBURG — Lining up to board the 6:30 a.m. bus from St. Petersburg to Helsinki, all his future packed in a single suitcase, a young Russian explains why he’s chosen to leave his native land, using a brutal movie metaphor: “Someone in this country has put a contract out on my life.”

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The hitman in this plot is, of course, Vladimir Putin: Since the Russian President launched his invasion of Ukraine, a growing number of citizens back home have been grappling with the decision to stay or go.


Adapt to a repressive world at home with fears of military conscription, an absolutist crackdown on free speech and a looming economic crisis triggered by unprecedented Western sanctions — or try to leave the country for uncertain horizons abroad.

Oligarchs head to U.S. or Gulf

According to one Russian economist, since the start of the war, more than 200,000 people have already crossed Russian borders by land into Finland, Estonia and Latvia, or have caught one of the few remaining flights to countries that have not yet barred Russia from its airspace, such as Turkey, Central Asia, and the South Caucasus. The sudden wave of emigration has prompted transport prices to surge to double, triple, in some cases even quadruple what they were prior to the start of the war.

This mass exodus is part of a long-term trend of well-to-do and middle-class Russians emigrating that has been picking up since 2012. For many, the war has just worsened their general feeling of anxiety living in an increasingly repressive state. In a survey by a project of the Russia-based non-governmental organization Takie Dela before the invasion, the number one reason to leave Russia for 64% of respondents was security.

Most Russians have neither the means nor inclination to even consider emigration.

The five-hour-long queues at ticket booths and border crossings the past two weeks suggest that people’s fears are weighing more heavily than the costs. The elite, the oligarchs, the politicians, are largely protected by their positions, or have the means to flee to America or the Gulf region.

Others, like one woman interviewed by Holod Media did, are selling all their possessions for a flight out of the country to start life somewhere else with nothing. Most Russians, notably those who live in small towns and on the outskirts of cities, have neither the means nor inclination to even consider emigration.

Act of protest

The imposition of sanctions is a considerable burden on well-off Russian parents, many of whom have opted for international schools in Moscow, St. Petersburg, which have begun to shut as Western countries are unilaterally shuttering their businesses in Russia. Pearson Edexcel, the main international examination body, last week suspended all operations in Russia and Belarus.

Beyond the economics, the exodus is now also the only means left for Russian people to express their opinion. It is a final sign of protest that Dmitriy Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, has called “un-Russian.”

For those staying, and whose children are schooled by the state, it is harder than ever to receive an education which is not monitored and blinkered by state ideology. Russian liberal daily Novaya Gazetareported that a schoolteacher was suspended last week for a post on Instagram: "So, I have my own opinion! And not only me, many teachers have their own opinion. And you know what? It clearly does not coincide with the opinion of the state."

His issue: being forced to teach state-prescribed curriculum. “You need to live in such a way that your conscience does not torment you.” The penalty for disseminating what the Kremlin views as false information about the war — 15 years in prison — is not just an assault on free press, but one that is disturbing the moral sense of many in Russia.

Photo of \u200bStudents at Moscow's Higher School of Economics

Students at Moscow's Higher School of Economics

HSE

Losing human capital


Furthermore, last week’s departure of international businesses is already blowing holes in the Russian economy and is expected to leave thousands of workers who have remained in the country unemployed, in what could become the country's worst economic crisis since the end of the Soviet Union.

“The Russian economy will rapidly lose human capital, and the rate of its outflow may be higher than in the 1990s,” wrote Vladimir Gimpelson, head of the Moscow Higher School of Economics’ center for labor market studies. Combine this with the exodus of educated and skilled specialists possessing years of expertise, and Russia may be left with a concerning gap in its workforce and economy which could take years to rebuild.

The extent of the sanctions has gone far beyond what was expected.

This crisis has two potential solutions in the eyes of the Kremlin — the first, the nationalization of foreign business property, being the most likely, as reported by Kommersant last Friday. Its aim: supposedly to prevent mass-unemployment, though simultaneously strengthening the Kremlin’s grip over independent businesses.

The second, in response to the loss of tech industry such as Apple and Netflix, is to turn to China as their primary partner. For a long time, the FSB security services were worried about letting the Chinese into Russian communications, but in desperate times there is no room for such misgivings.

The Kremlin has declared that the risks of unemployment caused by Western sanctions were calculated in advance. This assertion, though, has already come under fire, as the extent of the sanctions has gone far beyond what was expected. Much has been made of the millions that Russian oligarchs stand to lose, though it is clear that the real losers will be those who own or work in small businesses with little to no government support.

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FOCUS: Israel-Palestine War

BDS And Us: Gaza's Toll Multiplies Boycotts Of Israel And Its Allies — Seinfeld Included

In Egypt and elsewhere in the region and the world, families and movements are mobilizing against companies that support Israel's war on Gaza. The power of the people lies in their control as consumers — and the list of companies and brands to boycott grows longer.

A campaign poster with the photo of a burger with blood coming out of it with text reading "You Kill" and the Burger King logo

A campaign poster to boycott Burger King in Bangkok, Malü

Matt Hunt/ZUMA
Mohammed Hamama

CAIRO — Ali Al-Din’s logic is simple and straightforward: “If you buy a can (of soda), you'll get the bullet too...”

Those bullets are the ones killing the children of Gaza every day, and the can he refuses to buy is “kanzaya” – the popular Egyptian soft drink. It is just one of a long list of products he had the habit of consuming. Ali is nine years old.

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The clarity and simplicity of this logic has pushed Ali Al-Din to boycott all the products on the lists people are circulating of companies that have supported Israel since the attacks on Gaza began in October. His mother, Heba, points out that her son took responsibility for overseeing the boycott in their home.

A few days ago, he saw a can of “Pyrosol” insecticide, but he thought it was one of the products of the “Raid” company that was on the boycott’s lists. He warned his mother that this product was on the boycott list, but she explained that the two products were different. Ali al-Din and his younger brother also abstained from eating any food from McDonald's. “They love McDonald’s very much,” his mother says. “But they refuse.”

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