‘At least 650,000’ Russians have fled country since war began

Those who have left range from Russians who feared arrest under draconian new censorship laws to entire families who no longer wished to be associated with the regime.

Police officers detain a man during a Moscow protest in September 2022 against the partial mobilisation for the Ukraine war. Picture: AFP

At least 650,000 people have fled Russia since President Vladimir Putin began the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, according to a report.

Those who have left range from Russians who feared arrest under draconian new censorship laws to entire families who no longer wished to be associated with the regime. The departures add to the hundreds of thousands of people who fled following the Kremlin’s announcement of a nationwide mobilisation in the autumn of 2022.

The most popular destinations are Armenia, Georgia and Kazakhstan, as well as Israel, which combine to account for about half of all Russian exiles, according to research by The Bell, an independent Russian website.

Other countries that have received a large influx are the US (48,000), Germany (36,000) and Serbia (30,000), it said. Britain has taken in about 15,500 Russian citizens. More than 11,000 Russians have made new lives in Argentina, where newborns receive citizenship. About 28,000 have moved to Turkey, but residency problems and soaring costs mean it is now less popular.

The exodus represents the biggest brain drain for Russia since the chaotic years after the collapse of the Soviet Union: about 80 per cent of the exiles are thought to be university-educated and more than 85 per cent are under 45. However, an estimated 450,000 Russians who fled after the start of the war have returned home after financial difficulties, residency problems and discrimination.

Putin, who initially described the exodus as “a natural and necessary cleansing of society”, has since called the return of Russians to the motherland a “good trend”. He has also claimed, without supplying evidence, that many Russians had been unable to adapt to life in the West because they were disgusted by gender-neutral lavatories. His comment was mocked by exiled opposition figures.

The Kremlin has not published official statistics on departures linked to the war. However, it is believed to have created a database of Russians who have left the country, prompting fears that those who return, even for short visits, could face retribution.

Severing ties entirely with their homeland has been difficult for many Russians, especially those who left behind elderly parents. “It’s nerve-racking every time I go back: I delete everything on my phone that could be grounds for arrest before I reach the border,” said Pavel, who lives in Georgia.

A British think tank has urged the government to provide exiled Kremlin critics with “democratic passports” that would enable them to travel and settle in the West as part of long-term planning for a post-Putin Russia.

“Leaving Russians to deal with the Putinist system alone is not an option. Russia is not going to go away,” wrote Stephen Hall in a paper for the Henry Jackson Society. He said only those vetted would be granted passports to alleviate fears of sabotage by the Kremlin.

THE TIMES