- Title: 'I don't want to shoot anybody': war-averse Russians seek sanctuary in Georgia
- Date: 10th October 2022
- Summary: CAR WITH RUSSIAN NUMBER PLATE / WAITING ATTENDING TO DINERS OUTSIDE A RESTAURANT OLD CITY DISTRICT PEOPLE RAISING GLASSES OF WINE AT RESTAURANT RUSSIAN COUPLE TAKING A SELFIE / PEOPLE IN STREET OLD CITY DISTRICT/ 'FOR RENT' SIGN OUTSIDE BUILDING RUSSIAN COUPLE WITH SUITCASES LOOKING FOR AN ADDRESS LARGE GEORGIAN FLAG HANGING OUTSIDE BUILDING SIGN OUTSIDE BRANCH OF BANK OF GEORGIA READING (in Georgian, English) 'BANK OF GEORGIA' BANK OF GEORGIA BRANCH INTERIOR TAKEN FROM THE STREET / CUSTOMERS, MANY OF THEM RUSSIANS, AND STAFF INSIDE BANK BRANCH VARIOUS OF BANK CUSTOMERS SPEAKING TO BANK STAFF VARIOUS OF RUSSIAN MAN AT CASH MACHINE INSIDE BANK LOBBY TBILISI, GEORGIA (OCTOBER 7, 2022) (REUTERS) ENTRANCE TO BUILDING WHERE 'EMIGRATION FOR ACTION' ORGANISATION HAS OFFICE / WHITE-BLUE-WHITE ANTI-WAR RUSSIAN FLAG WITH WRITING READING (in English) "EMIGRATION FOR ACTION" HAND-WRITTEN MESSAGE ON BLACKBOARD READING (in Russian): "7 October, 19:30-21:00. Lecture. Georgia: What do you need to know about life in this country?" GROUP OF RUSSIAN MEN SITTING AT TABLES OUTSIDE 'EMIGRATION FOR ACTION' OFFICES (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN CITIZEN FROM MOSCOW, ALEXEI (LAST NAME NOT GIVEN), 33, SAYING: "It was not easy for me to make this decision. I thought about it for a long time, for several days. Then I understood that if I didn't leave now, then I wouldn't be able to leave at all, because the borders could be closed at any moment. So, I made the decision to leave - definitively. I called my friends and said "Who's coming with me?". One friend agreed to go with me. It took a few hours to pack and get ready before we got in the car and left." 'EMIGRATION FOR ACTION' BANNER (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN CITIZEN FROM MOSCOW, ALEXEI (LAST NAME NOT GIVEN), 33, SAYING: "I decided to leave because I don't want to fight - fight against our brothers. And I understood that the mobilisation would be a total, global threat." (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN CITIZEN FROM MOSCOW, ALEXEI (LAST NAME NOT GIVEN), 33, SAYING: "That they could come for me any day and simply take me. In war, there is not just a huge threat to life, but you can be blown up stepping on a mine and you can lose your legs, or something else, and no one - I mean the state - would do anything to help someone with a disability, and I can see this with my own eyes. So, what are we fighting for?" (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN CITIZEN FROM MOSCOW, ALEXEI (LAST NAME NOT GIVEN), 33, SAYING: "I would like to go back home, to Moscow, because it's comfortable, there are no difficulties. But in order to return, I have to know that the war has ended, and there's nothing that threatens my life, but I don't think this is going to happen soon." (NIGHT SHOTS) RUSSIANS ARRIVING FOR A BRIEFING ON LIFE IN GEORGIA AT OFFICES OF 'EMIGRATION FOR ACTION' AID GROUP (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) 'EMIGRATION FOR ACTION' VOLUNTEER AND MUSCOVITE, YEVGENY LAMYN, 24, SAYING: "Our project is called Emigration for Action. We launched in April this year. Its main aim is to help Ukrainian refugees here in Tbilisi with medical aid - we buy medicines, we pay their (medical) bills and we have been working this way for six months already. (SHOT CHANGE) After Russia announced its mobilisation, there has been a large stream of people to Georgia, nationals of the Russian Federation, who are running from mobilisation, and we understood that we need to help our compatriots - and, from our point of view, this decision to emigrate is a forced departure due to the mobilisation. It's an anti-war decision, as the person who made this decision is not going to the front and is not going to kill Ukrainians or be involved in war crimes or a criminal war." VARIOUS OF RUSSIAN NATIONALS - MOSTLY MEN - WAITING FOR START OF BRIEFING AT 'EMIGRATION FOR ACTION' OFFICES LAMYN SPEAKING VARIOUS OF RUSSIAN NATIONALS LISTENING TO LAMYN TBILISI, GEORGIA (OCTOBER 6, 2022) (REUTERS) (NIGHT SHOTS) ENTRANCE TO 'EMIGRATION FOR ACTION' OFFICES GROUP OF PROTESTERS ON STEPS OF GEORGIAN PARLIAMENT BUILDING PROTESTERS GATHERED IN STREET OUTSIDE PARLIAMENT WOMAN DRAPED IN GEORGIAN FLAG HOLDING BANNER READING (in English): "Putin is Terrorist / Russia is Occupier" (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTIVIST AND TOUR COMPANY OWNER, TSOTNE JAPARIDZE, SAYING: "We have a kind of invasion of Russians, (so-)called 'refugees'. It also sounds very funny to be in the country (Georgia) on the one hand occupant (ed. note: refers to Russian control over breakaway Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia) and on the other hand - refugees. I don't understand it. So, these people can be like a mine, an explosive for us, which could be used at any time by Putin, whenever these people get the order to start provocation or a kind of destabilisation." (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTIVIST, LANA GHVINJILIA, SAYING: "If we still believe that all Russians who come here oppose Putin and oppose this kind of imperial politics, it's still a problem for us (in Georgia) - this inclusion of Russian culture and Russian social culture, which we are trying to liberate (ourselves from) during (the) last 30 years."
- Embargoed: 24th October 2022 11:08
- Keywords: GEORGIA MIGRATION MOBILISATION RUSSIA UKRAINE
- Location: TBILISI, GEORGIA
- City: TBILISI, GEORGIA
- Country: Georgia
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Europe
- Reuters ID: LVA003113610102022RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Igor Tikhiy, a 49-year-old marketing professional, has a simple answer to the question of why he fled to Georgia last week, crossing the border in the dead of night on his bicycle.
"I don't want to shoot anybody. That's why I'm here."
He is one of thousands of Russian men who have left their country since President Vladimir Putin announced a nationwide mobilisation drive in a bid to recruit new manpower for Moscow's war on Ukraine.
According to the mobilisation laws passed by the Kremlin and reassurances by officials, Igor's age should mean he is not subject to the draft.
"In Russia, what's written down is one thing but what they actually do is another. There are 50 year-olds being sent to the front. I don't want to be among them," he told Reuters in an interview in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi.
"I saw recruiters coming to my building with draft papers. I don't want to be around to find out if they are coming for me," he added.
After Putin ordered mobilisation, Igor, who lived in Moscow, packed his bags - and his bike - and flew to the southern Russian city of Vladikavkaz, some 32 km (20 miles) from the border with Georgia. Crossing in the middle of the night to avoid heavy queues, he then took a taxi some three hours south to Tbilisi, the Georgian capital.
It is a journey travelled by tens of thousands of Russians in the first weeks of Russia's chaotic mobilisation.
Alexey, a 33-year-old who works in media, spent six days queuing in his car on the Russian side of the border. He didn't sleep for the first 48 hours for fear of losing his place.
"It was a tough decision to leave, I thought about it for a long time. But I realised if I didn't leave right now I might never be able to. Russia could close the borders," he said.
Rumours of border closures have swirled around Moscow for weeks, denied by the Kremlin but viewed by many as credible.
Alexey said he considered abandoning his car and crossing on foot or bike, where the lines where shorter. Local media reports say dozens of cars had to be moved by police after their owners ditched them near the border.
"I don't want to go to war. I don't want to fight against a brotherly nation," Alexey said of his reason for leaving.
On the streets of Tbilisi, the latest influx of Russians into a city of just 1 million is evident.
Large queues have formed outside banks and shops selling SIM cards, while cafes are dotted with young Russian men scouring AirBnB for a place to stay.
How many will remain and for how long is an open question. For those who cannot work remotely, finding a local job will be tough and housing costs have rocketed, say volunteers helping Russians to acclimatise.
Prior to mobilisation, more than 45,000 Russians had already opened bank accounts in Georgia this year, central bank data shows - more than doubling the number of Russian-held accounts in the country in the space of just six months.
The arrivals have stoked a mini economic boom, with an extra 1.2 billion Georgian lari ($430 million) flooding into Georgia through cross-border transfers, says the Institute for the Development of Freedom of Information, a Georgian think-tank.
But for some locals, there is a feeling of apprehension.
Ex-Soviet Georgia and Russia fought a short war in 2008 over Abkhazia and South Ossetia - two regions internationally recognised as part of Georgia but under the control of Russian-backed separatists.
The two countries still have no formal diplomatic relations and Georgian society was fiercely anti-Russian before Putin invaded Ukraine.
Some Georgian activists want their government to restrict Russian arrivals or close the border altogether. Under Georgia's liberal immigration rules, Russians can effectively stay in the country indefinitely without a visa.
Around 300 people attended an anti-Russia protest outside Georgia's parliament last Friday.
"They can be like a mine - an explosive - which can be used anytime by Putin," said protester Tsotne Japaridze.
Many Russians, including Igor and Alexey, say they are against the war and want to integrate into Georgian society, but locals are sceptical.
"Even if we believe that all the Russians coming here oppose Putin... it's still a problem," said Lana Ghvinjilia at the protest.
"This is an influx of Russian culture, which we've been trying to liberate (ourselves from) over the last 30 years."
($1 = 2.79 Georgian Lari) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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