The underground networks of Russians helping refugees
TBILISI — Ukrainian refugees who reluctantly find themselves under Moscow’s rule are receiving help from an unlikely quarter: networks of Russian volunteers helping those displaced by the war to leave Russia.
When Bogdan Goncharov, his wife and 7-year-old daughter fled the shelling in their hometown of Mariupol in mid-march, they ended up in Russian-controlled territory in south eastern Ukraine. Fearful of being transported thousands of kilometres away after hearing other refugees were sent to Siberia, Goncharov said he contacted a Russian volunteer who arranged transport for them across Russia to the Estonian border.
“It’s a miracle we got out,” said 26-year old Goncharov, who worked as a builder before the war and is now starting a new life in Sweden. “It’s thanks to the volunteers.”
For uprooted Ukrainians like Goncharov who don’t want to remain in Russia or Russian-controlled territory, the volunteers provide advice on travel routes as well as help with money, transport and accommodation along the way, according to nine people who are involved in the loose-knit networks or have received help from them.
Many of the networks are run by Russians or people of Russian origin, according to four of the people, who are involved in the networks. Three of them said while most of the volunteers are based abroad, there are also some Russian nationals who are still in their homeland, and many of those work clandestinely to avoid the attention of Russian authorities.
It represents one of the ways that ordinary Russians who are upset by the devastation caused by the war can express how they feel at a time when domestic laws effectively restrict the ability of people in Russia to openly criticise the military, several individuals interviewed by Reuters said.
There is no law in Russia that specifically bans people from helping Ukrainians leave the country. There is legislation related to nongovernmental organisations (NGOS) that gives the government the power to deny registration if it deems they are engaged in activities harmful to Russia’s interests. Russian law also requires NGOS that receive foreign funding and are considered to carry out political activities to submit to additional scrutiny.
“We all have this constant feeling of guilt,” said 20-year old Maria Belkina, a Russian native living in Georgia who runs a group that she says has helped around 300 Ukrainians exit Russia. The group, called Volunteers Tbilisi, also provides humanitarian aid for Ukrainian refugees in Georgia. “Many people from Russia are writing and asking: ‘In what way can I help?’” she said.
Reuters spoke to two other volunteer groups that each said they had helped a thousand or more Ukrainians leave Russia since the conflict began; the news agency wasn’t able to independently confirm the figures. All three groups said many of those they have helped resettle have come from Mariupol, a strategic port city in eastern Ukraine that has endured among the most destructive sieges of the war.
The Kremlin and Russia’s emergencies ministry, which deals with refugees, did not respond to requests for comment on the treatment of Ukrainian refugees, the volunteer networks helping them leave the country and how the Russian authorities view their activities.
The Ukrainian government didn’t respond to a request for comment on the work of the volunteers.
The activities of the volunteers carry risk. Russians who openly disagree with the war have faced fines and prosecutions, according to interviews and an organisation that tracks police action against political activists.
One Russian woman who had helped dozens of Ukrainians leave Russia via the border with Estonia stopped after she was summoned by police for questioning, according to two fellow volunteers. They said she was held for several hours without access to a lawyer, adding they did not know what police questioned her about.
The woman, Irina Gurskaya, has not been charged according to one of the people, Svetlana Vodolazskaya, who coordinates the network she volunteered with. That group, called “Rubikus,” has helped about 1,500 Ukrainians leave Russia, said Vodolazskaya, a Russian native who lives in Britain.
Gurskaya didn’t respond to a request for comment, nor did the Kremlin. The police in the Penza region where she lives couldn’t be reached for comment.