You can not leave to evacuate

The Ministry of Emergencies began the export of Russian citizens from Syria

The Ministry of Emergencies began the export of Russian citizens from Syria. However, the Russian Foreign Ministry assures: everything is calm in Damascus, there is no question of evacuation

77 Russians were first taken out by buses to Beirut

According to official information, 81 people turned to the Russian Embassy in Damascus. But only 77 flew to Domodedov, the two remained in Syria, and the embassy knows nothing about two. They flew out of Beirut. There is an airport in Damascus, but it is unsafe to use it: there are cases of shelling of civilian aircraft. Yes, and special brotings were no coincidence: Aeroflot stopped the flights to Damascus back in July 2012, and only the Syrian Airlines fly from Moscow once a week, relying on the will of Allah. However, from Damascus to Beirut - only two hours of driving along a good highway. This road is almost the last safe communication channel with the outside world, so it is intensely guarded by regular troops.

The paths back

Syrian military transferred Russian refugees to the hands of the Lebanese army

The representative of the Russian embassy in Syria informed The New Times that among those who left were not only the inhabitants of Damascus: "For the majority it was a forced measure: either the house was bombed, or there was no means of existence, because it suffered, say, a store." However, the Russian side provided transport only from Damascus to Beirut, while our citizens had to get to the capital themselves. It was not possible to clarify the geography of the living of Russians The New Times, however, according to the Syrians themselves, it makes no sense to go from Homs or Aleppo to Damascus: it is far and dangerous, you need to know the roads and better have acquaintances among the rebels. It is better to go directly from Homs to Lebanon, the border can be illegally crossing the hours in five hours. But here, there are frequent shootouts, in addition, the border is controlled by the Lebanese army. And from Aleppo - only 50 km to Turkey, but then you need to cross half the country to get into Ankara from which you can fly to Moscow - the path is not! There are no more official Russian institutions in any of these cities: the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in Aleppo was closed on January 15.

Talking about the upcoming evacuation began among the Russian Syrians in the fall of 2012, when Aleppo now and then passed from the rebels to the regular army and vice versa. In Damascus, then many began to collect suitcases, and the Russian Embassy-to call the Russians, interested in their life-be. According to the diplomatic source of The New Times, who wished to remain unnamed, already in December 2012 the Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Emergencies had a plan of large -scale evacuation, according to which for several days the security forces were ready to take about 30 thousand people with airplanes and airborne ships. But the go -ahead from the Kremlin never came. After all, evacuation would mean that Moscow admitted: the Assad regime is doomed, and the life of citizens who supported him in danger.

"

Already in December 2012, the Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Emergencies had a plan of large -scale evacuation, in a few days the security forces were ready to take about 30 thousand people from Syria with airplanes and landing ships

"

In general, from the word "evacuation" the Russian authorities run like from fire. “In October, we ourselves called the embassy and asked when the evacuation will begin. We saw how the Ukrainians were exported harmoniously, and, of course, they began to worry. But they did not give us an answer then, ”says a resident of Damascus Natalya,“ and then they said: if something happens, then just moving; For evacuation, they say, you need a "special paper" from Moscow, but it still does not. "

This is the same official point of view: the first deputy head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Andrei Denisov assured the journalists that there was no full -scale evacuation. Like, just two sides arrived in Beirut with humanitarian aid at the request of the Syrian side and at the same time took the Russians. The Russian Embassy at Damascus The New Times said that there was especially no one to evacuate: everyone who wanted was already parted. However, the diplomatic sources of the magazine assured: the matter is not at all in the desire of our citizens: “It’s really not so difficult to leave Damascus, especially if there is where there is money for a ticket. But it is risky to get out of other cities, so if you announce an evacuation, who want to be in bulk. ”

At the airport of Beyrut, two special scores of the Ministry of Emergencies were waiting for the evacuated	Domodedovo airport. 23 January 2013

Female share

77 people exported by the Ministry of Emergencies are only a drop in the sea. At the consular accounting in Syria before the war there were 30 thousand Russians, today only 8 thousand were left, the rest already returned to Russia themselves, or moved to a neighboring Lebanon. Russians live everywhere, because the majority came here not at work, but for love. “Since the late 50s, only about 100 thousand citizens of Syria have issued civil universities in the USSR and Russia, and there were also a lot of graduates of military institutes, KGB schools, but these data are not disclosed,” said the New Times on the basis of anonymity Russian diplomat. “Many Syrians then left for their homeland with Russian wives, and their children received Russian passports.” Russian wives were held in ministries and departments for quite decent positions, a lot of them worked in the education system - in schools, the conservatory ... “I had a Russian teacher at a music school in Homs,” said the New Times, the Syrian pianist Sarmad, now living in Nice, then I went to study in the conservative in Damascus, where I again had a Russian teacher, and then played in one choral ensemble, and again the artistic director was from Russia. ” “How many Russian passports live in Syria, no one knows for sure,” the diplomatic source of the magazine thinks. “I think at least two to three times more than it is stated at the consulate.”

There are, however, specialists who came to work in Syria already in the post -Soviet time. So, Stroytransgaz builds a gas processing plant 200 km from Homs, and Tatneft has its own projects. Despite the fact that the deadlines, for example, the GPP were postponed from 2011 to the end of 2013, work at the facilities was not stopped.

"

We live under the accompaniment of the cannonade, but they shoot, thank God, not in us. And life goes: children go to school, dads - to work, mothers - to the market

"

Russians on barricades

The citizens of Russia remaining in Syria are sometimes forced to choose which part of the conflict to support. “The Syrian people are a single people, and they will cope with these bandits,” says Svetlana Stepanovna, who arrived in Damascus 40 years ago with a clergyman. Bandyuki is a free army of Syria (CAS). Svetlana Stepanovna called from the embassy in January, offered to leave, even with her husband, although he does not have a Russian passport. “And all my friends also called. But we refused. What will we do in Moscow? We have no family or housing there. Only one pair left our environment, but I don’t even want to talk about them - I just pushed for free tickets! ”

Svetlana Stepanovna says that in the district, although they shoot, you can live: “At first it was scary, and then they got used to it. We live under the accompaniment of the cannonade, but they shoot, thank God, not in us. And life goes: children go to school, dads - to work, mothers - to the market. Food, of course, has become more expensive than 50 percent, but they sell bread at the same price. That's just the queues after him are terrible - many refugees. Electricity is turned off for two hours in the morning and in the evening, and so - there are almost no interruptions. But we are not in a claim, in war as in war. ”

However, in the relatively calm Damascus, Assad is supported by many Russians, as well as immigrants from the former USSR, which can not be said about other regions. So, in a video, expected by Homs and posted on the YouTube portal on January 23 (www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhtzcnrfcxa&feature=share), a woman in field uniform and hijab, and with a closed face, explains in pure Russian, why she is with weapons in her hands in her hands in her hands in her hands in her hands in her arms in her hands in her arms will fight on the side of SAS. “I, a citizen of the Russian Federation, are in the ranks of the Free Army of Syria, because it was useless to wait for protection from Russia,” she says. -Russia, which I was once proud of, turned out to be a fascist power that broadcasts from the screens about the care of orphans, and in other countries he makes thousands of children orphans ... Many Russians do not even know what their money, taxpayers, the cities are destroyed by airplanes and tanks ... I was for the regime of Bashar and tried to find (this), until I saw my own eyes, how the army was destroyed by my area, destroyed my area I killed my loved ones ... Therefore, I will defend what I have left. ”

Some users, however, doubted the authenticity of this recognition, calling the video “Propaganda production” by CAS. Yes, and significant evidence that the video is a Russian woman is not presented. But something else is quite possible: this woman in a hijab is still our compatriot, and, moreover, the only one who decided not to leave, but, on the contrary, remain to fight for the future of her new homeland.

Photos: Reuters