How secret networks help Russian war opponents escape US Republicans start investigation into the origin of Corona

Vladimir Putin’s Russia has long been a difficult place for dissidents. Since the beginning of the “military special operation” in Ukraine a year ago, things have become even more difficult. Anyone who protests against the war must fear long prison terms. And with the “partial mobilization” in September, the screw was tightened again.

For many, flying abroad is the only option. Up to a million Russians have been reported to have left the country since the start of the war. Since visas for the European Union are difficult to obtain, many went to Armenia, Georgia or Kazakhstan. Often they received support from a network of escape helpers.

This includes the Berlin-based organization “In Transit”. According to the New York Times, it was founded by three St. Petersburg women. The newspaper keeps her identity secret for security reasons. Their actions are reminiscent of the Underground Railroad, which helped black slaves escape to the North before the American Civil War.

Escape over 4,000 miles

The New York Times describes how such an escape works, using three women aged 16, 17 and 19 from Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East. You were part of an anti-war chat group and were accused by a member of planning an arson attack on a military recruiting office.

The three teenagers hid in a friend’s house and came into contact with “In Transit”. The group arranges cars, travel money, accommodation and visas to cross the border. In the case of the girls, the destination was Kazakhstan, some 6,500 kilometers from Vladivostok. They reached it after a six-day odyssey in six different cars.

“Delivered” too early

Such a long flight has its pitfalls. One of the drivers drove at such an “infernal” speed that he “delivered” the young women to a Siberian city six hours before the appointed time. The escape helpers had to arrange a hiding place in a hurry, so that the girls would not fall into the hands of the police.

The escape from Russia has many faces. One is from a 60-year-old economist named Irina by the New York Times. She had cared for a group of refugees from Mariupol, Ukraine, in a town in central Russia and had been targeted by the FSB secret service, the successor to the Soviet KGB.

“We’ll bury you here!”

After an hour-long interrogation, Irina was taken to a forest and beaten. “We’ll bury you here!” shouted one of the FSB men. After five hours she was released, after which she decided to leave the country with “In Transit” and a humanitarian visa issued by Germany for opponents of the regime.

Apparently it is no coincidence that many women are involved in helping refugees. Another example is the Feminist Anti-War Resistance network, which, according to Deutsche Welle, is active in some 100 cities in Russia and abroad. It is coordinated by Lilija Weschewatova, who now lives in the Armenian capital Yerevan.

Feminists help men

She was arrested twice over anti-war protests and left the country in March. Since then she has been supporting those who want to flee. Since the “partial mobilization”, men have also been involved, which was a new task for the feminists: “We gave advice, bought tickets, organized buses and accommodated people,” says Vezhevatowa.

Several hundred activists in Russia and abroad were involved, she told Deutsche Welle. She herself helped 60 men emigrate. The example of Oleksandr, a 32-year-old Ukrainian-Russian actor originally from Donetsk, shows how close it can get.

Escape through bathroom window

After the separatists seized power with Russian help in 2014, he moved to Moscow. Once mobilization started, his city employers sent him to a recruiting center and assured him that Ukrainian citizens would not have to register. Instead, it was said that the bus would leave in an hour.

Oleksandr then climbed through a bathroom window and jumped into the street. He ran for 30 minutes and thought he was being followed. Through a “friend of a friend” he contacted “In Transit” and fled Russia. Nightmares would have plagued him for months, he told the New York Times.

Mothers call sons cowards

Yet he has no regrets, because several of his friends died in the war. Apparently “In Transit” has not yet “lost” a refugee, unlike other groups. Usually, people were caught ignoring requests to leave their phones or posting photos of their escape on social media.

Sometimes the escape is thwarted by informants, sometimes from their own families. That is also the experience of the feminist network. “Some mothers even convince their sons that they are cowards and deserters if they don’t go to war,” coordinator Liliya Vezhevatowa told Deutsche Welle.

Even a general thinks about fleeing

Yet the flow of refugees continues and reaches even the highest circles. Human rights activist Vladimir Osechkin, who has been living in exile in France since 2015, told CNN. Numerous FSB agents and regular soldiers are considering fleeing, as well as a former minister and a former three-star general.

Osechkin tries to help and is attacked himself. He was killed last September while serving food to his children. “At that point I understood that I had created a very big risk for my family.” Today he is under 24-hour police protection.

That doesn’t stop him from continuing. In January, he was one of the escape helpers of the Wagner commander Andrei Medvedev, who allegedly went to Norway on foot (the circumstances of his escape are disputed). Osechkin knows that Moscow could try to infiltrate his organization and discredit his work.

But neither he nor the other escape helpers think of stopping. Because the danger of being recruited into the war still exists. However, it should not be concealed that some Ukrainians are also trying to avoid conscription for the war, despite the ban on leaving the country and despite the high moral pressure to defend their country.