Russian in exile told – flees army: “Don’t want to be a war criminal”

“Nobody knows who will be drafted,” Pavel says (he doesn’t want his last name published). Actually, according to the Putin decree, only reservists should be mobilized, but it also affected many without any combat experience. “Friends of mine were told to join the military even though they had never held a gun before,” said the 34-year-old. Anyone can be sent to the front. He and most of his friends therefore fled the country. He didn’t want to leave his house or his parents, “but I don’t want to become a war criminal,” he confirms.

‘Nobody knows what the government will do now’
Pavel first wanted to fly to Georgia, but the airline tickets sold out in no time. The musician packed his electric bass and all his belongings and took a ride from Moscow to the border with Kazakhstan. The journey lasted two days, he slept and did not eat, he was always afraid that the border might close. Such rumors circulated. “Maybe it was panic,” says Moscow-born Pavel, “but in Russia you never know what the government will do next.”

The car dropped them nine kilometers from the border and they stayed out for 16 hours with hundreds of others, mostly men from Russia. There were no chairs or toilets. “It was hell,” says Pavel. Finally, he managed to cross the border and travel on to Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. The plane continued to Tbilisi, from the Georgian capital to Armenia.

“I’m in the history books”
Meanwhile, the musician was staying with friends. He gives electric bass lessons and is looking for an apartment – a difficult task as many Russians have fled to Yerevan. You do not need a visa or special residence permit here. Pavel considers networking with others and protesting against Putin’s regime again. The studied historian took part in demonstrations against the ruler in the Kremlin ten years ago. “Unfortunately, we have not been able to bring about a change,” he says. Yet Pavel is not hopeless, he takes courage from his participation in major upheavals: “I am in the history books.” Now Russia is a totalitarian country, “but if Putin and his people die, there may be in 10, 20 years,” the Russian hopes.

The Russian economy is likely to contract sharply this year due to Western sanctions, but Pavel himself hardly noticed it during his life in Moscow. “Well, there’s no Coca-Cola, no McDonald’s, no IKEA anymore, but you can live without Coca-Cola,” says Pavel. According to him, the sanctions will only come into effect in a few years.

“I was scared every minute”
Oleg Orlov studied history in Moscow with Pavel. He taught history in a high school class in the Russian capital and found it very difficult to walk. He did not want to leave his students and family behind. “But when the mobilization was called, I was scared every day, every minute,” says Oleg. He consulted with a lawyer, who made it clear to him that it was difficult to defend legally against the draft message. His wife and children support him. “My youngest daughter said: what are you waiting for, go to Kazakhstan!” says the 33-year-old. At the end of September he left Moscow by train. “It was smart to go by train, no questions were asked,” he says. A black man was in the same car and they made racist jokes about him, for example saying, “The black man doesn’t want to fight,” says Oleg. But he was also allowed to leave.

In Kazakhstan, friends helped him get a plane ticket to Shymkent, about 100 kilometers from the Uzbek border. Oleg took a taxi to the border, then continued on foot to Tashkent. Here he found work as a kindergarten teacher. “I may be the first man in Uzbekistan to work in a kindergarten,” he laughs.

Putin has been an opponent for years
Like Pavel, Oleg was against the war in Ukraine from the beginning. He has been taking the streets against the regime since he was a teenager. In 2014, Oleg took part in a large demonstration in central Moscow against the annexation of Crimea. As a history teacher, the 33-year-old tried to talk to his students about the war – without being allowed to call it that officially. “It’s not possible to criticize directly, but I showed them pictures of the Afghan war and the Second World War and we made comparisons with today,” says Oleg. Two years ago, he taught in a rural region of central Russia. “One of my students, who I had there, was recently murdered in Ukraine,” the teacher said, visibly emotional, in a video call to krone.at.

Officially, the mayor of Moscow announced on October 17 that the mobilization in the capital had ended. Can the two now go back without risk? According to Pavel, such words cannot be trusted: “War in Russia should not be called war, words have no relation to reality anymore.” Until the war is over, he doesn’t want to go back to his homeland. Pavel’s girlfriend is still in Moscow, he hopes she can come soon. Even history teacher Oleg doesn’t believe the official announcements. As long as the war continues, the risk is too great for him to return. He doesn’t know how it will go on. “It’s very hard to see that I can’t go back,” says the 33-year-old. He is in regular contact with his family and also talks to his former students.

Pavel and Oleg belong to a small minority in Russia. The vast majority are blinded by the propaganda and support the invasion of Ukraine. “My father supported Putin, but when we heard about the partial mobilization, he advised me to leave the country. If your family is sent to the front during the war, you change your mind,” says Pavel.