Vlad, all your points are very well taken, and correct within their context, which is the life of any individual Russians trying to leave Russia today, a full year and a half after the start of the war.
But I downvoted almost all of them. Why?
Because for the last year and a half I have been watching individual Russians – many with personal ties and relatives in Ukraine – contentedly look away, entirely disinterested, happy to feed on Putin’s propaganda, while other, Ukrainian individual lives have been far more casually destroyed, and in far greater numbers. For example, I bet there are many now dead residents of Bucha who would have been thrilled to be able to walk instead of drive away, many schoolchildren and hospital patients who would have loved to be able to escape by any means possible before they were bombed out of existence by your government openly targeting civilians.
Just as a reminder, Vlad, your country is not only waging war without cause on a neighboring country, but committing the most abhorrent of war crimes against individuals, and threatening the entire world.
What do you think sanctions are supposed to do for you, Vlad, as a Russian?
What do you think your neighboring countries are obligated to do for you, Vlad, as a Russian, when your government has made no secret of its intent to swallow them all and recreate a glorious Russkiy Mir?
Are they supposed to WELCOME you, Vlad? Because you write as though they should, instead of casting the most suspicious of eyes toward every Russian that has waited this long to cross the border.
Your whataboutery in this thread, while true on an individual level, does not make me forget that these hypothetical Russian refugees of today are only now concerned because Ukraine has brought the merest fraction of Russia’s war back to them.
Just to be clear, Russians have been running away from the draft since last year. Political dissidents, like Vladimir Kara-Murza and Alexey Navalny, have been in danger and running for much longer. These have my full respect and support, as do the many now in Russian prisons for whom all borders are closed.
The few Russians running now are the ones who didn’t give a shit about anyone but themselves, the ones who are just now recognizing that they personally might be inconvenienced or even – gasp! – physically harmed by their own country’s war, long after HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of similarly innocent Ukrainians have been killed, maimed, injured, displaced, or otherwise similarly inconvenienced. And that’s if they’re even running. Not all of them are.
You may have forgotten that. Others here may have forgotten that.
I will NEVER forget that.
And when the leopards finally turn and look hungrily at YOUR face, Vlad, be very grateful if you still have the option of walking instead of driving to the nearest border of another country your own country waits to swallow. You’re very fortunate they’re letting any Russians cross the border at all, and the ones that allow Russians today may well refuse you tomorrow. Instead of wasting your time writing pro-Russian pity posts, you should be getting your own shoes ready.
Did you forget how as soon as the war started, the Russians protested and thousands were arrested, beaten, jailed, etc?
The people in Russia have family and children to worry about, you can’t blame them for staying and not wanting to risk starving and leaving with nothing.
Not to mention that they know their country is in the wrong, so they would also be fearing oppression outside of their country as well, not to mention losing all of their assets, being homeless, potentially starving.
The people that will be fleeing now will be desperate. It’s clear that all the risks they face outside of Russia are now less than what they face remaining.
The citizens of Ukraine have had it incomprehensibly worse obviously, but that doesn’t diminish the plight of Russian refugees now, it all adds together in the cost to humanity.
Just to be clear, Russians have been running away from the draft since last year. Political dissidents, like Vladimir Kara-Murza and Alexey Navalny, have been in danger and running for much longer. These have my full respect and support, as do the many now in Russian prisons for whom all borders are closed.
Russians aren’t a race. Slavic is a race, but I’m clearly not anti-Slavic: I am pro-Ukrainian, and Ukrainians are also Slavs. Anti-Russian is both precise and correct, thanks.
You should read up on how Ukraine handled their own exodus from the war zone in March-April 2022 and the following months. They didn’t squeal and whine about not being able to take this or that; they worked together with the neighboring countries to get as many people out as they possibly could.
Not a whine, not a mewl, not an aggrandized, entitled demand among them. They did what needed to be done without stamping their feet and demanding that the world change for them.
Vlad, all your points are very well taken, and correct within their context, which is the life of any individual Russians trying to leave Russia today, a full year and a half after the start of the war.
But I downvoted almost all of them. Why?
Because for the last year and a half I have been watching individual Russians – many with personal ties and relatives in Ukraine – contentedly look away, entirely disinterested, happy to feed on Putin’s propaganda, while other, Ukrainian individual lives have been far more casually destroyed, and in far greater numbers. For example, I bet there are many now dead residents of Bucha who would have been thrilled to be able to walk instead of drive away, many schoolchildren and hospital patients who would have loved to be able to escape by any means possible before they were bombed out of existence by your government openly targeting civilians.
Just as a reminder, Vlad, your country is not only waging war without cause on a neighboring country, but committing the most abhorrent of war crimes against individuals, and threatening the entire world.
What do you think sanctions are supposed to do for you, Vlad, as a Russian?
What do you think your neighboring countries are obligated to do for you, Vlad, as a Russian, when your government has made no secret of its intent to swallow them all and recreate a glorious Russkiy Mir?
Are they supposed to WELCOME you, Vlad? Because you write as though they should, instead of casting the most suspicious of eyes toward every Russian that has waited this long to cross the border.
Your whataboutery in this thread, while true on an individual level, does not make me forget that these hypothetical Russian refugees of today are only now concerned because Ukraine has brought the merest fraction of Russia’s war back to them.
Just to be clear, Russians have been running away from the draft since last year. Political dissidents, like Vladimir Kara-Murza and Alexey Navalny, have been in danger and running for much longer. These have my full respect and support, as do the many now in Russian prisons for whom all borders are closed.
The few Russians running now are the ones who didn’t give a shit about anyone but themselves, the ones who are just now recognizing that they personally might be inconvenienced or even – gasp! – physically harmed by their own country’s war, long after HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of similarly innocent Ukrainians have been killed, maimed, injured, displaced, or otherwise similarly inconvenienced. And that’s if they’re even running. Not all of them are.
You may have forgotten that. Others here may have forgotten that.
I will NEVER forget that.
And when the leopards finally turn and look hungrily at YOUR face, Vlad, be very grateful if you still have the option of walking instead of driving to the nearest border of another country your own country waits to swallow. You’re very fortunate they’re letting any Russians cross the border at all, and the ones that allow Russians today may well refuse you tomorrow. Instead of wasting your time writing pro-Russian pity posts, you should be getting your own shoes ready.
And a handful of sunflower seeds, of course.
Слава Україні!
Did you forget how as soon as the war started, the Russians protested and thousands were arrested, beaten, jailed, etc?
The people in Russia have family and children to worry about, you can’t blame them for staying and not wanting to risk starving and leaving with nothing.
Not to mention that they know their country is in the wrong, so they would also be fearing oppression outside of their country as well, not to mention losing all of their assets, being homeless, potentially starving.
The people that will be fleeing now will be desperate. It’s clear that all the risks they face outside of Russia are now less than what they face remaining.
The citizens of Ukraine have had it incomprehensibly worse obviously, but that doesn’t diminish the plight of Russian refugees now, it all adds together in the cost to humanity.
Jesus Christ bro, relax.
You’ll find I am very much relaxed, when it comes to the mewling cries of Russians getting a tiny taste of their own back.
Where are you from? I’ll tell you how many deaths you’re directly responsible for.
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Russians aren’t a race. Slavic is a race, but I’m clearly not anti-Slavic: I am pro-Ukrainian, and Ukrainians are also Slavs. Anti-Russian is both precise and correct, thanks.
You should read up on how Ukraine handled their own exodus from the war zone in March-April 2022 and the following months. They didn’t squeal and whine about not being able to take this or that; they worked together with the neighboring countries to get as many people out as they possibly could.
Not a whine, not a mewl, not an aggrandized, entitled demand among them. They did what needed to be done without stamping their feet and demanding that the world change for them.
You both could learn from them.
Слава Україні!