“The car drives, it breaks destinies”: stories of people who left Russia due to persecution

Many activists are forced to leave Russia due to state persecution. OVD-Info talked to people who left Russia at different periods — about moving, the difficulties of integration, and how their lives have changed.

Aydar Gubaidulin

Defendant of the "Moscow case" . He was detained in connection with a rally for fair elections, which took place on July 27. Accused of assaulting a police officer for throwing a plastic bottle at a security officer. I spent 40 days in the temporary detention facility and pre-trial detention center. On September 18, he was released on bail. The case was not closed, however.

My experience of attending rallies has previously been safe. I always controlled the situation, watched the approach of astronauts (OMON officers - OVD-Info ), I was never detained. But on July 27, I got emotional and threw the bottle away. Because watching and standing while people are being beaten is not normal, and something had to be done at least.

When I was sitting, thoughts arose: if there was freedom, I would leave and not return. When I was released [on bail], my lawyers and I were counting on the fact that the case would be dropped within the next few weeks, everything would be fine. But, as it turned out later, no one planned to do this. Moreover, new investigative actions began, new charges were brought, new arrests of other defendants began.

Everything smelled of fried, so I decided that it was better to leave, that you should not count on a fair trial. After all, there is a chance to be imprisoned for a year, two, three, so it's better to escape. Of course, I violated the terms of the subscription. Of course, I could be returned to the pre-trial detention center. But I took a chance.

I really didn't want to leave until the last moment. I was waiting for the case to be re-qualified, maybe at least administrative. Well, after all, they understood the absurdity of what was happening. The investigator always had one argument: "I'm doing my job." Here he is doing his job, and this car goes on and breaks people's destinies.

I left for Lithuania. They just told me that there was an option that they would help me get there and get settled, so, in fact, I did not choose anything. Documentation was easy to understand. This is an obvious case, there are publications in the media, there are materials of a criminal case, where it is written in black and white what I did, what I am accused of. It is clear that in any normal country where cases of political asylum are being considered, this is all obvious to them.

I applied for asylum at the end of November, now I am waiting for a decision. Wait up to six months. In Lithuania it is fast enough. In other European countries it is a year or two.

I cannot say that I have integrated into the environment. I have a remote job that I found in early December, I'm sitting at home. Moreover, in connection with the virus - everyone is sitting at home, there are also strict rules here, I only go out to the store. Before the pandemic, I sometimes saw people and political emigrants from Russia who left because of Crimea and the events of Bolotnaya Square. And so I live a very domestic life.

If we talk about my life before the summer events, I was not very active. I went to the office five days a week, sometimes met with friends, went to training. After I was released [from the SIZO], I started going to work again. Then he took a vacation, began to actively go to pickets, court hearings, and events. These were the most intense weeks of my life, there have never been so many communication and events. And then I left. I now have a pretty vegetable life.

After my release, I made edits on the site for "Prisoners 212" (a campaign to support the defendants in the "Moscow case" - OVD-Info ), I am a member of an active group. Interest in Russia has not disappeared, I follow the news and events. Whatever happens, I will wait for the decision on asylum, I will wait whether I am under amnesty or not. Even if I get there, I will live in Lithuania and travel. And yes, I would like to return to Russia, I lack communication with people, with like-minded people who share my views.

Pavel Elizarov

Participant in the events on Bolotnaya Square in 2012. At this action, he was detained, then he began to receive summons to the Investigative Committee. One of the founders of the website "Bolotnoe delo".

I left Russia in 2012 because of the Bolotnaya case. Then I was an activist of the [democratic movement] Solidarity and the [party] Parnassus . He actively participated in everything, was one of the organizers of the rally at Chistye Prudy [December 5, 2011]. I was detained on it, arrested for a week. I was also detained at Bolotka, they even beat me during the arrest, then they took me to the trauma center right from the police department. But then everything calmed down somehow. I didn’t even know if there was a charge [in a criminal case] or not.

I was traveling, my sister wrote to me that the police came with a search and were looking for me. At that time, no one knew about the Bolotnaya case, then there was the first wave. Therefore, I returned, not knowing that this was something serious that threatened me.

When I returned, it became known about searches at [Ksenia] Sobchak’s when they were looking for [Ilya] Yashin (due to allegedly provoked clashes with the police on Bolotnaya Square during the dispersal of the “March of Millions” - OVD-Info ) . Therefore, I did not live in my apartment, but went to work. It has already become clear that this is a serious big case against activists, a summons [to the Investigative Committee] came, policemen began to appear. Then I realized that everything was bad, and I left for Belarus through Ukraine.

Just at that time, Razvozzhaev was kidnapped from Kiev, taken to Moscow (Leonid Razvozzhaev is a defendant in the Bolotnaya case, after emigrating to Ukraine he was taken to Moscow and arrested - OVD-Info ), then Yanukovych was in power, it was unsafe in Ukraine.

At that time I was one of the creators of the site "bolotka.info" (it collected information about the prisoners of the Bolotny case - OVD-Info ) . Investigators asked many about me who he was, why he was doing this. They didn't like having their names on the site.

Formally, I was not wanted, summons came to me as a witness. But then there was such a practice: they bring a person for interrogation to the Investigative Committee as a witness, during the arrest they make him a suspect. I checked the search site - I was not there.

Then I decided to go to Mozambique. I chose this country because I really wanted to travel around Africa, there were business prospects, there were investments, gas was found, the economy was not developed. I made my small company on the site there, things were going fine. But I couldn’t get proper documents there, because a lot of things are based on bribes, but this doesn’t suit me, I hate the whole story about bribes.

At that time, the European Union began to actively help the prisoners of the "bog". Then I decided to go to Portugal, it was not difficult to get a visa there. There were good conditions: while you are waiting for a decision on asylum, they give you a residence permit, you can work. In Mozambique, I more or less started to speak Portuguese, I already knew Spanish, so I already had the language.

Of course, with the move, life has changed a lot. I lived in Moscow for 27 years, and then I took it and left. New country, different culture. But I don't have any injuries.

I miss the cultural life, Moscow is the size of the whole of Portugal. In Moscow, I had a well-established cultural and political life. In terms of work, nothing has changed much, the life of IT people in all countries is similar. Here in Portugal, I have a feeling of freedom and security, you can walk down the street at night and not be afraid of the police. In Russia, I had unpleasant incidents from scratch - for example, checking documents turns into detention. People here are more free, it's nice to walk the streets, there are no stupid prohibitions, people behave relaxedly. Yes, sometimes I want to return to Russia, but then I will lose the right to asylum in Portugal, according to the law.

I continue to monitor the situation in Russia, I helped the site "Prisoners 212". Even now I help the Boris Nemtsov European Foundation, I go to the Nemtsov Forum, which takes place every autumn.

It is worth noting that since 2012, a community of political emigrants began to form. Now it looks confident, foundations and organizations in different countries are starting to appear from below, which influence life in Russia from here.

Ilya Kapustin

Witness in the criminal case on the terrorist community "Network" . On January 25, 2018, in St. Petersburg, Kapustin was kidnapped by FSB officers, beaten and dragged into a minibus. He was tortured with a taser, asking questions about various people and about the anarchist movement.

I was tortured by the FSB officers, then I made it public. I began to worry that the employees might somehow react inadequately to this and try to take revenge - perhaps involve me in an existing case or invent something else. So I realized that it would be safer for me to go to another country. All this was in January 2018. I made a visa. As soon as it was ready, the very next day I left Russia for Finland.

I was in the status of a witness, still in it. There were, of course, some fears that they might somehow want to restrict my movement, but there were no legal grounds for this. So I decided not to delay and leave as quickly as possible.

As soon as I arrived in Helsinki, I went to the police station and said that I needed asylum, because in my homeland the special services had become completely insane and would not let me live. After that, they sent me to a transit camp inside the city.

It is assumed that people who have just applied for asylum arrive there, and there they are waiting for an interview at the migration service. The camp is not an open-air tent, but an ordinary hostel. This place is not designed for a long stay. I had a room of eight meters for two or three people. Usually people there wait for an interview for about a month, maybe two. I waited half a year - maybe they thought that I needed to rest after Russia.

Then the interviews began. There were two meetings, they outlined the essence of the issue. I had documents that confirmed the authenticity of the story. After that, they were returned to the long-term stay camp. Everyone is supposed to live in a camp, but I was sent to the camp in Helsinki because I studied and worked.

The camp where I started to live was different from the transit one. People have lived there for years. Sometimes there was some tension when everyone was in the same space with other people. I won’t say that I had problems, a little sometimes I got it. For example, not all countries have a centralized collection of garbage, sometimes they threw it out of the window, this created its own atmosphere. There I met different people, with different stories, with different fates. Refugees were in camps from everywhere: from Colombia, from India, from the Middle East, from Africa.

I was given a residence permit on the grounds that I was in danger in my homeland. I moved into a rented apartment. I have the opportunity to live in a rented apartment, because the state can pay for housing and provide for basic needs, which is important. The other day I applied to the university. I'm applying for 3D design.

In two years I had already begun to understand Finnish, during these two years it was quite difficult to interact with people. I knew English at some level, and now my knowledge of the language does not allow me to communicate on serious topics. I can’t say that I have a large social circle among the local population, I don’t feel rejected, but in order to maintain close relationships, you need to deeply express your thoughts. I think it will all come with time.

There is a certain number of migrants from Russia here, I keep in touch with someone. In general, my social circle and its density is less than in Russia. Of course, I miss my friends and relatives. In terms of things, there is nothing like that, but yes, there are not enough people.

There are a lot of things that I like about life in Finland that are well organized. Here, compared to life in Russia, everything is very relaxed, and you feel like you are in a resort all the time. In fact, you can not worry about anything - neither about safety, nor about the fact that you will find yourself on the street without food and water. This cannot be imagined here. This has a downside, that you need to be able to motivate yourself to do something. Everything here is for people and about people, there are many public goods.

At the moment, I perceive Finland as my home, I feel comfortable and cozy here. I recently went to Germany and felt like abroad. When I returned, I realized that I was finally home.

UPD: clarifications have been added to the story of Ilya Kapustin