Precis

"My hope is ... somebody from Putin's circle will just kill him." Pussy Riot's Nika sums up the mood of many who've fled Russia for refuge in Georgia.

Angry and afraid, Putin's opponents fear they can't go home till he's gone.

Since President Putin invaded Ukraine in February, some 200,000 Russians have fled their country, scattering across western and eastern Europe.

Around 30,000 have landed in Georgia, a former Soviet country on Russia's southern border, where it's cheap to live and visas are easy to get.

Nika can't see herself going home any time soon.

"I really think that I will not be able to go to Russia till Putin will, I don't know, die, disappear, become a bug or something. So yes, I think we need to wait for his death."

The Russian refugees are distressed at the invasion of Ukraine and the brutal crackdown on free speech.

Yekaterina and her husband Tikhon were high-profile presenters at the independent station in Moscow, TV Rain. When it shut down shortly after the invasion of Ukraine, they fled.

"There is no guarantee that they will arrest you, but there's no guarantee that they won't," says Tikhon. "So there are much more chances that you're going to be in jail, if you go back and we're not ready to have this kind of risks. We have kids."

"It was the most stressful and terrible moment of my life," says Yekaterina. "We have decided everything that we are leaving and to you know pack up stuff and wake up kids in the middle of the night ... A couple of hours and your whole life has changed."

In a timely story, Eric Campbell and his Moscow crew film both inside Russia and in neighbouring Georgia, meeting the brave people opposing Putin and his war.

In St Petersburg, we meet 76-year-old artist Yelena who's been arrested for protesting against the war but is refusing to stay silent.

"There are good Russians too," she says. "But now there is so much shame for our country, so much disgrace. Russia always had much to be proud of. But this is all so awful."

Dissidents inside Russia are increasingly isolated as State TV whips up hostility against anyone who questions the government.

But those who've landed in Georgia feel vulnerable too because the Georgian government has been reluctant to criticise Putin for fear of reprisals. Many Russians living in Georgia are unsure how long they'll be welcome there.

"We know that Georgian government is not happy with us being here because they are afraid that ... Georgia will become a safe space for Russian independent journalists," says Tikhon.

"It is not a safe space."

Pussy Riot prison protest

Music

00:10

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Nika Nikulshina was a Moscow activist with the Russian punk collective Pussy Riot.

00:16

Nika in Georgia with Eric

Now she's in Georgia fleeing arrest for defying Vladimir Putin.

00:25

NIKA: So my hope is that somebody from Putin's circle just will kill him, I don't know. That's my best wish.

00:30

Russians in exile, anti-war protest

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: She's part of a Russian diaspora taking flight from Putin's dictatorship and the war they see as a crime. And they're prepared to live in exile to denounce his regime.

KRISTINA: I think the moment I go back,

00:39

Kristina at protest

I will be just detained by the police.

00:51

Moscow GVs

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: And inside Russia we'll meet some of the dissidents risking their lives to stay. 

00:55

Tatyana

TATYANA: It's a terrible, senseless war and we need to stop it.

01:01

Mother of Georgia statue. Title:
The Russian Resistance

01:06

Georgia GV. Super:
Tbilisi, Georgia

Music

01:13

Map – Ukraine, Russia, Georgia

01:20

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Georgia is a former Soviet republic on Russia's southern border.

01:24

Georgia. Culture

It's famous for its music, food and wine and love of life. It feels far removed from war-torn Ukraine,

01:30

but it's become a flashpoint for refugees, both Ukrainians fleeing Russian bombs and Russians escaping their own government.

01:51

Tbilisi drone GVs to Campbell to camera. Super:
Eric Campbell
REPORTING

These days just calling Putin's war 'a war' can see Russians jailed for up to 15 years. And since his 'special operation' began in February, tens of thousands of Russians have fled here to Georgia, one of the few places they can live without visas. They include journalists, dissidents, artists, activists, all wondering how they can oppose this war and when, or if, they can ever go home. 

02:02

Ukrainian flag/aid collection/bookshop

You see them everywhere in the capital, Tbilisi, collecting humanitarian aid for Ukraine, gathering in bookshops selling banned Russian books, or staging protests that would see them beaten and jailed in Russia.

02:33

Russian commemoration

Today, it's a commemoration for civilians slaughtered by Russian troops in Bucha.

02:50

Anton addresses commemoration

ANTON: "Yesterday, after the Kyiv region was freed, Russian troops left behind hundreds of killed, tortured and burnt bodies."

02:55

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: This is the Russian resistance; people who love their country but hate what Putin is doing in their name.

KRISTINA: How can it be not a crime?

03:08

Kristina at commemoration

How can killing people can be not a crime? Destroying people's lives, their homes, their families, their future. Of course, it is a crime. What else can it be?

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Kristina left Moscow days after the invasion began, knowing it could be many years before she returns. She's asked us not to say her age or full name for fear of reprisals against her family in Russia.

03:18

KRISTINA: I knew that I wouldn't be able to keep silent. And I had a choice. Either I would stay in Russia and go to jail, or I would move to other country and would try to do something to support people in Ukraine and support people in Russia who can't leave for many reasons.

03:45

Anton at commemoration

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter:  Anton Mikhalcuk works for an organisation helping settle the flood of Russians now arriving. He says the Russians here are just one part of an exploding diaspora.

04:05

Anton interview

ANTON: Overall, around 200,000 people have left Russia this month. There are emotional immigrants who left because they fear an 'Iron Curtain'. Others can't continue their business or work, and there are many activists, journalists and human rights workers who absolutely understand that tomorrow they might end up in jail. That number increases every day. It's impossible to even count now how many are arrested every day.

04:17

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Vladimir Putin says every single one of them is a traitor.

04:45

Putin broadcast

PUTIN: "Any nation, and especially the Russian nation, will always be able to distinguish real patriots from scum and traitors, and will just spit them out like an insect that flew into the mouth by accident. Spit it onto the footpath. I am convinced this natural and necessary self-cleansing of the society will only make our country stronger."

04:51

Young people on streets of Tbilisi

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: While Russians have flooded in since February, Putin has been tightening the noose on opposition for years.

05:1

Nika interview in park

Nika Nikulshina fled here in July, bringing a fire of hatred for Putin that has only burned brighter with the war.

05:24

NIKA: Oh my God, my country, my country go to the war to Ukraine and I fucking love Ukraine and I also  fucking love Russia.

05:35

Pussy Riot clips

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Nika is a prominent artist with Pussy Riot, a feminist performance group that dared to ridicule Putin and all who supported his dictatorship, from the Russian Orthodox Church to police.

05:43

Pussy Riot dresses as police officers

NIKA: "You should fight to stop fabricating criminal accusations in Russia."

05:56

Pussy Riot on to field during World Cup

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: The day of the World Cup final in Moscow, she and three others dressed in police uniforms to invade the field, stopping the match as the president looked on.

NIKA: "So yeah, I decided just to say

06:01

Nika interview in park

like out loud that, "Fuck the police."

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Yeah. And you ran out in the field in front of Putin.

NIKA: Yeah.

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter:  Yeah. And you embarrassed him, you made Putin look...

NIKA: Hope so. Hope he was crying.

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter:  Yeah. But that made you a target.

NIKA:  Yes. But it's not problem for me because I cannot imagine how could I live in Russia and be silent?

06:17

Nika court appearance

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: In court she was defiant.

06:45

NIKA: "I'm fighting despotism and the fact that Russia is for sad people. I really like carnivals and imagine everyone will leave now and the carnival will be over. I don't want this to happen, I like fun and parties.

06:47

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: She kept smiling, even after she was sentenced to 15 days in detention. But it was just the start of a campaign to force her to leave Russia. As she continued her activism, she was continually rearrested and thrown back into detention. Finally, she drove straight from a cell to the airport.

NIKA: So when I was like fourth time in detention centre,

07:00

Nika interview in Georgia

I decided that I had to leave because I think that I can be more powerful outside. I can talk from here even then I will like just sit in the jail and do nothing. So this was the signal that, "No, no, no, Nika, you're not welcome here, not anymore." So now I really think that I will not be able to go to Russia 'til Putin will, I don't know, die, disappear, become a bug or something. So yes, I think we need to wait for his death.

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter:  Which could be years.

NIKA: Which could be years.

07:26

Pussy Riot video

Music

08:10

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: When Nika and her friends were first jailed, other members of Pussy Riot made this video appealing for their release, wryly urging police to be good cops, not bad.

08:14

Music

08:25

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: But one by one they've also been forced to leave Russia, moving to North America and Europe. Sasha Sofeev joined Nika in Tbilisi.

08:32

Sasha interview in Georgian park

"So have you left Russia, forever, what's your plan?"

SASHA:  Of course not. When I left, I hoped to return as soon as possible. But as we see, months go by and the situation gets, catastrophically worse. I can't go back now, it's not safe for me.

08:44

Police arresting protestors, Russia

09:12

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Putin's invasion of Ukraine has been accompanied by a vicious crackdown inside Russia. Since February, the last vestiges of democracy have been stamped out with brute force. Protests have been crushed, opposition figures have been jailed.

09:23

Journalists daring to question the war have been silenced. Challenging the government inside Russia is now all but impossible. Even individuals holding blank sheets of paper are being dragged off to jail cells. Yet some persevere despite the risks. Our crew in Russia managed to speak to some.

09:45

Elena holding placards at protest

Elena Osipova is 76. Too old and too stubborn to leave Russia, she continues to brave arrest.

ELENA:  I am not afraid of anything anymore. Why should I be afraid?

10:11

Elena interview

I have been participating in protests since 2002.

10:27

Elena with artwork

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: She lives in Saint Petersburg, her small apartment filled with her other passion, painting. She has put that skill to work, creating anti-war posters. Police keep confiscating them.

10:33

ELENA: The first time my posters were stolen by the police I was so upset. People told me, "Don't be upset", there are all kinds of people, there are good Russians too. But now there is so much shame for our country.

10:46

Archival. B&W footage, Siege of Leningrad

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Elena was born in the aftermath of the Siege of Leningrad, when Nazis blockaded Saint Petersburg, starving nearly a million people to death.

11:13

Putin has tried to emulate this mythology claiming, absurdly, that Ukraine is run by Nazis.

11:36

Elena with artwork

Elena will have none of it.

ELENA: This is all made up! Such nonsense!  This was cultivated during recent years by the authorities. Very few people remember the war.

11:43

Elena interview

Those who do remember and have lived through it, can't be saying this.

12:06

Elena at stove

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Yelena's age gives her some leeway to speak out; police are less likely to jail or beat her.

12:12

Elena at protest with placards

But she's still vulnerable to ordinary Russians who see her as a traitor.

12:21

Women harass Elena

WOMAN 1: "Outrageous, you don't understand anything!"

WOMAN 2: You must be proud of your country. Don't sit here with all this!"

WOMAN 1: "In Saint Petersburg of all places!"

ELENA:" I'm doing this in my country."

WOMAN 2: "Of course! You were paid to do it! Such shame! Such shame!"

12:27

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: State media have pushed a relentless line that Putin's critics are foreign agents.

12:47

Propaganda, use of 'Z'

It's reinforced with non-stop nationalist propaganda, the letter Z an omnipresent symbol of the promised victory in Ukraine.

12:53

Music

13:03

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: It takes extraordinary courage to push back.

13:20

Tatyana, YouTube

TATYANA: "Hi everyone, this is Tanya Felgenhauer. Thanks for watching my channel and while YouTube is still working, subscribe and share!"

13:26

Tatyana at computer

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Tatyana Felgenhauer is one of Russia's most prominent independent journalists. But her only access to the public now is making YouTube content from her Moscow apartment.

13:33

TATYANA: "MPs legislated insane jail terms for publishing 'fake news' about military operations while the propagandists are running longer zombie shows."

13:47

Echo of Moscow

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Her old station, Echo of Moscow, Russia's last independent radio station was shut down on March 3, its signal taken over by State propaganda.

13:58

Tatyana interview

TATYANA: I feel so many emotions. I'm angry. I'm sad. I'm shocked. I'm mad. I cannot spend all my emotions on propaganda. I have to spend it on the truth, on my audience, on stopping this terrible war.

14:10

Tatyana attack

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Tatyana has put her life on the line before. In 2017 a crazed nationalist broke into her studio and stabbed her in the neck. She nearly bled to death. Weeks later she was back on air. Now she's not sure how much longer she can keep going.

14:37

Tatyana working at home

TATYANA:  For now, I am in Moscow, I stay here. I want to stay here as long as possible. But I don't know, maybe tomorrow I have to leave. Maybe in a week. But for now I'm here,

14:59

TV Rain broadcast

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Most journalists have already self-censored or escaped. The news website TV Rain was a fearless critic of Putin's policies. Programs by its presenter Yekaterina Kotrikadze and her husband Tikhon Dzyadko were seen by up to 25 million people a day.

15:21

On March 3 it closed down to prevent its staff being jailed, signing off with the outlawed statement 'No War'. It was the end of independent television in Russia.

15:42

Yekaterina and Tikhon in Georgia, meet with Campbell

Hours later, Tikhon and Yekaterina, who is Georgian by birth, fled Russia, flying to Tbilisi to continue their work.

15:59

"Thanks for your time today, I know you're busy."

They have traded comfortable lives in Moscow for the uncertainty and hardship of exile.

YEKATERINA: This has been the most stressful

16:10

Yekaterina and Tikhon interview in restaurant

and terrible moment of my life. And Tikhon's as well. Because I mean we have decided everything that we are leaving and we have decided to, you know, pack up stuff and wake up kids in the middle of the night. It was like very fast. A couple of hours and the whole life has changed.

16:23

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: They're sure Putin will never restore what he's taken away.

16:45

TIKHON: As a product of the media, he perfectly understands that those who can control the information, control the world, so it has never been easy for the independent media, but last month changed everything.

16:49

Drone shot Tbilisi / YouTube Yekaterina and Tikhon broadcast

Music

17:04

YEKATERINA:  "And of course, the main topic of this stream, this broadcast is the events in Bucha. Absolutely horrific images that you all have seen, even if you didn't want to.

17:07

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Like Tatyana Felgenhauer in Moscow, Yekaterina and Tikhon make YouTube content from their temporary home in Tbilisi. They admit is it is harder outside Russia.

YEKATERINA: We can report on Russia because we have still

17:16

Yekaterina and Tikhon interview in restaurant

people in Moscow, in other cities. We have connections. We have friends. We have different ways of covering the situation, the crisis, the catastrophe that is going on, but still, it's not the same if you leave the country.

17:33

Tikhon, zoom interview with Zelenskyy

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Even so, Tikhon has managed to get one interview that outraged the Kremlin.

TIKHON:  "Is Biden's position on NATO peacekeepers in Ukraine known? How realistic do you think this it is?"

17:50

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: He was one of a handful of independent Russian reporters to speak to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

TIKHON: Well, I think he's very

18:05

Tikhon interview in restaurant

honest and he looks very transparent, like he tells us what he actually thinks. He's not pretending to be someone.

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: He's not like Putin.

TIKHON: Yeah, apparently...

18:15

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: So what is going on in Putin's mind?

TIKHON:  I think he looks like a person who doesn't have access to the right information.

18:31

Putin bunker video

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: It's long been known that Putin never looks at the internet, relying solely on documents provided by his inner circle. Tikhon Dzyadko says COVID has left him even more out of touch.

18:39

TIKHON:  Last two years with this COVID, I think that he is more isolated than he used to be, because he's paranoid about COVID. You saw these pictures when he met Russian ministers of defence and foreign affairs,

18:53

Tikhon and Yekaterina interview in restaurant

and they are sitting at this huge table, which means that he's more misinformed than before, because he only gets information from a few people. And I don't think he has a... It's hard to have a plan when you don't have all the information.

19:10

YEKATERINA: He has lost the connection with reality as a lot of people say, and there are some leaks from inner circles saying that there is a huge problem of Vladimir Putin's understanding of the whole situation in Ukraine. And he still isn't understanding, he still thinks that he's winning there.

19:29

Russian aid news report

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: The mirage is reinforced by Russian television, now almost completely under Kremlin control. There is no news of defeats or casualties, just liberated Ukrainians grateful for Russian aid.

19:50

Dummy video

Some news reports are just fabricated to suggest Ukrainians are faking atrocities.

Journalist: " As you can see, it's pretty simple. Two people in military uniform carefully wrap a dummy in sticky tape and presumably intend to pass it off as a corpse."

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: In fact, this was footage from a Russian film set making crash-test dummies.

20:09

Tbilisi drone shot

Music

20:32

Campbell meets with Kristina and walks to shops

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: "Hey Kristina, how are you?"

Kristina, who I met at the Bucha commemoration, is doing what she can for refugees in Tbilisi, buying them essentials like food and toiletries.

20:38

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: So you're buying all this out of your own money?

KRISTINA: Yeah.

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Wow.

KRISTINA: I mean, it's normal right now.

20:50

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: But you haven't got much money. I mean you're not a rich person.

KRISTINA: I have enough to live.

20:57

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: She's staying in a cheap hostel, scratching a living as a digital nomad doing IT work.

21:05

Kristina shops for supplies for refugees

KRISTINA: We need some toothbrushes, toothpaste. This one's a bit more pretty.

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Sweets for kids.

KRISTINA: Actually I think for everyone.

21:12

Sometimes people care about kids and they don't care that much about adults or elderly people. Some snacks. They say snacks help to relieve stress, too.  And then buy also some shampoos and everything.

21:27

Kristina attempts to pay, but shopkeeper refuses her money

SHOPKEEPER: No.

KRISTINA: But I want to.

SHOPKEEPER: No.

KRISTINA: I insist. I'm sorry.  I'm very stubborn.

ERIC: The shopkeeper wants to give it for free.

KRISTINA: I know it's hard to make business and I actually want to support local business.

21:50

Kristina and Campbell into distribution centre

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: This distribution centre is run by Russian and Georgian volunteers. Refugee families come here to find clothes, food or toys, anything to bring a sense of normality to their children.

22:12

Campbell with Daria

Daria fled the Ukrainian city of Cherniv as it came under heavy bombardment.

"You've come here with your family?"

DARIA: With my daughters, my dogs, my cats.

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: And how is life here?

DARIA:  Everything is fine. Everyone is helping. There's a lot of help from the government and the people. It's not as tough as we thought. We thought it would be harder. But I still want to go home.

22:32

Inside church. Male choir sings

[singing]

23:08

Man rings church bell

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Most Georgians share the disgust at Putin's war. The streets of Tbilisi are covered in

23:29

Ukrainian flags and support posters

Ukrainian flags and messages of support. But there's a dilemma for the Russian resistance here. The hostility to the invasion can sometimes translate into hostility to all Russians, even dissidents who have fled here in opposition to Putin.

23:39

Campbell at wall with QR code posters

This is an indication of how the Russian arrivals are viewed by some Georgians.  There are banners with QR codes to find the best Georgian restaurants, to open a bank account, to find accommodation. But when you click on them, you're not taken to that information. You're taken straight to videos of Russian atrocities. With the tagline that it's not just Putin's war, it's Russian aggression.

23:58

Driving to South Ossetia/ Russian police in fields

The reason for the animosity can be seen just outside Tbilisi. Sixty kilometres away is the border of South Ossetia, a Georgian province that has been effectively occupied by Russia. Russia invaded in 2008 in support of separatists there. It means Russian troops and tanks are less than an hour's drive from the centre of Tbilisi.

YEKATERINA: I was here in 2008 when

24:22

Yekaterina interview in restaurant

Russia attacked Georgia and it was terrible and we understood that he can do it just like that. And he can do it anytime again.

24:52

Demonstrations in Tbilisi

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: While the invasion of Ukraine has enraged Georgians, critics claims it has cowed the Georgian government. There are frequent demonstrations outside parliament demanding the government do more for Ukraine. Georgia has been hesitant to criticise Russia and impose sanctions.

25:02

TIKHON: That's why we know that Georgian government is not happy with us being here.

YEKATERINA: They're afraid of Russian

25:28

Yekaterina and Tikhon interview in restaurant

President Vladimir Putin bombing Georgia, because we are here, because he doesn't like that Russian opposition…

TIKHON: Exists.

YEKATERINA: People and journalists... Well, yeah, exists, but that they are here in Tbilisi.

25:36

Nika art video

Music

25:51

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Nika Nikulshina has tried to channel her experience into art, expressing the anguish of fleeing her home and losing everything she had. Now she wonders how long she can stay here.

25:59

Nika and Sasha in bar

She and her fellow Pussy Rioter Sasha Sofeev have generally been welcomed by Georgians. But she's also found hostility.

26:20

Interview in bar

NIKA: Yeah, it happens from time to time.

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: You walk down the street and you see F.U.C.K Russians written on the walls. Everywhere.

26:33

NIKA: I still have PTSD after all that happened in Russia. And now I have it more. And a couple of times I have this not very good situation 'Fuck you, you're Russian' and stuff.

26:42

SASHA: I think it's the other way round. If we look at the relations between Russia and Georgia historically, I'm surprised Georgians are so restrained and don't attack Russians on the streets.

NIKA: I don't agree with you.

26:59

I heard like two times 'You're Russian, go fuck yourself'. I'm so sorry. But yeah, it happened, like, a couple of times.

27:19

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: But what worries Nika far more is that the government may force her to leave, not because she's Russian but because she's anti-Putin.

27:27

NIKA: In Georgia now the government is kind of pro-Russian. So I really kind of waiting every day that one day somebody will knock on my door and – I don't know – bring me to Chechnya and then back to Russia.

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: So you still have that fear?

NIKA: Sure. It's kind of paranoia, I know it. But it's kind of like why not?

27:37

So it's kind of scary. But Georgia is super cool and especially Tbilisi is super cool. Because there's a lot of democracy here. And open-minded people.

27:59

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: At the age of 24, Nika is beginning the life of an exile. Unlike the millions who fled Ukraine, there can be no going home when the war is over. She and the other emigres must wait for Putin to die, and hope the Russia he leaves behind will be a land worth living in.

28:12

Credits [see below] over Pussy Riot clip

28:35

Out point

29:13