Over the past 12 months, it has been harder and dearer for Russians to travel abroad.
But some say that is just the starting of their fears.
Amid growing anti-Russian sentiment, several Russian residents spoke to CNBC Travel about their worries, how they’re treated while traveling and what involves mind when people ask where they’re from.
How traveling has changed for Russians
Yulia Azarova, an independent journalist, said she left Russia a 12 months ago. She said she fled Moscow for Istanbul after the invasion of Ukraine before finally settling in Lithuania.
“I had to go away my very own country” or risk prison, she said. “We needed to pack our things in sooner or later and leave.”
Since then, Azarova has said that she has been to Latvia twice, but cannot go to Ukraine, where she has relatives. Her Russian friends met her problems with attending to Polandshe said while her colleagues were prevented from entering Georgia, possibly out of loyalty to Putin.
Anna – who asked us not to make use of her real name for fear of “unforeseeable consequences” – has the opposite problem. She said that she is in Moscow and doesn’t know when she’s going to leave Russia again.
Going somewhere abroad seems unimaginable and unimaginable.
“Normally I might visit one to 2 countries a 12 months,” she said. But now “travelling somewhere abroad seems unimaginable and unimaginable.”
She said travel, especially flights, could be very expensive. As well as, “Russian bank cards are blocked almost all over the place, and buying foreign currency in Russia could be very difficult.”
And when he plans to go abroad again: “Probably when the war is over.”
One other Russian traveler, Lana, also asked us not to make use of her full name as a consequence of fears of retaliation from the Russian authorities. She lives in Asia and planned to return home last summer for the first time since the start of the pandemic.
Nonetheless, she said she canceled her trip after the invasion of Ukraine, although her parents had not seen her child in years.
“I didn’t know what was going to occur,” she said, adding that the risk of borders being closed or flights being canceled prompted her decision.
What it’s like to fulfill other people
As an alternative of going home, Lana traveled across Asia to places like Thailand and Japan.
“It’s really hard to go abroad and meet latest individuals who think you are a Russian person – and how people will react to that,” Lana said.
She said when people ask where she’s from, there is a “moment of anticipation” that did not exist when she was young.
“Then if you say “I’m from Russia”, the very first thing people say is vodka, bears, matryoshka [dolls]and all those innocent things,” she said. “You are feeling like yes, I’m from Russia – that is cool.”
Lana told CNBC Travel that being from Russia, she was used to getting comments about ballet, vodka and Matryoshka dolls.
Bo Zaunders | Corbis Document | Getty Images
Nevertheless it’s different now, she said. During the trip, she prepared herself for negative comments. Nonetheless, up to now none have come, she said. Relatively, she said people offered words of sympathy and concern.
Lana might need been lucky. AND anger against Russia has covered parts of the world, from Europe to the United States, with incidents that the Russian government has used to fuel nationalism in the country.
“Not everyone understands that government, country and folks aren’t all the time the same thing,” she said. “For instance you are with… [the United] United States, I mean, you may not support Trump after all, right? The identical thing has been happening in Russia for the last, probably 10 years.”
Anna said that telling latest people she was Russian “to be honest, it was all the time difficult, even before the war.”
She said Russians were “prejudice and stigma”, describing cases in Polish restaurants where waiters refused to serve her after noticing her Russian guide. She said that after that she began to cover her nationality more.
She said the query of where she’s from can be even harder once she starts traveling abroad again.
“After the war, I’ll probably be much more afraid of this query, because I’ll immediately feel the need to begin explaining myself, afraid of a negative and aggressive response.”
Azarova agreed that it’s difficult to fulfill foreigners, especially as she struggles along with her own “guilt”.
“You understand that you just personally have not done anything incorrect, but you may’t shake the thought that there is something incorrect with you,” she said.
After the invasion, Russian journalist Yulia Azarova fled Moscow along with her husband, who can also be a journalist. She said she gladly receives individuals who ask her about the war. “Truthfully, I’m very, very joyful to say what I feel about it.”
Source: Yulia Azarova
Since leaving Russia, Azarova has said she has not had any confrontations regarding her nationality. Nonetheless, like Anna, she said she often feels the must quickly say what she thinks about the war.
She said talking to foreigners helped her because “you get the feeling that nobody is blaming you.”
Now she’s now not afraid to say she’s Russian, she said, precisely because she will’t do anything about it.
“But I can do something to indicate face to Russians who aren’t for Putin, who aren’t for this war … and who tried to do something to stop it“.
He now covers the war for the news channel Khodorkovsky liveYouTube channel supported by exiled Russian businessman and outstanding critic of the Kremlin, Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
What would people prefer to know about Russians
“Persons are just people,” Lana said, “regardless of nationality, passport or citizenship. I even have lived in several countries. I’ve traveled so much. In my experience, most of the time, stereotypes just don’t work. stand.”
Anna said she wanted the world to know that not all Russians are “madly scary”. They’re slightly friendly, welcoming, able to help and willing to be good friends, she said.
“Many of us are attempting hard to alter something, but people should know that it’s indeed difficult and really dangerous … People should know that behind the terrible news about Russia there are tens of millions of Russians who’re suffering, who’re afraid and who’re trapped and who praying for peace day-after-day.
Azarova said she would really like the world to know that sanctioning the Russian people, unlike the government and ruling elite, is not going to affect Putin.
Lana said of recent trips to Thailand and Japan, “While you talk to people on a private level, they do not see you as representing the country…you are only a human being together with your own thoughts and feelings.”
Tomosang | moment | Getty Images
It is because their opinions don’t influence change, as in a democracy, because “Putin isn’t an elected leader. This can be a very, very vital issue. He was not elected in fair and free elections,” she said.
Besides, Putin doesn’t care what happens to the Russians, she said – their difficulties won’t change anything.
What is going on to be? “If Putin is removed by force,” she said. But “Russians don’t have any … weapons.”
Future
Lana said she is afraid for the future.
“No… I do not see a way out of the current situation. I’m afraid Russia… has stalled,” she said.
Azarova said that while she misses Moscow dearly, she is slowly accepting that she may never live there again.
“Never mind all the problems… it’s still a really beautiful city with all my childhood memories,” she said.
But she said her home as she knew it “doesn’t exist anymore.”