Russian Exiles

Radio Télévision Suisse | 13min
Postproduction script

00:00:04,870 VO: -The only road that connects the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, to the Russian border is winding, often narrow and full of potholes. We are now at the border of Georgia to meet the Russians who are fleeing their country. At the border, a line of trucks coming in from Turkey, Armenia, or Azerbaijan are waiting before entering Russia. In the opposite direction, Russian cars arrive in Georgia.

00:00:44,325 Man: -I see a lot of Russian cars, but I can't say for sure whether it's related to the war in Ukraine, or with the trouble in which the world is now plunged.

00:01:05,159 VO: -We try to find out more about the people involved.

00:01:09,489 Man to woman: -Deny, deny, deny.

00:01:11,240 VO: -But it's probably too early, too hard to talk, after having said goodbye to one's native land.

1’28 Title: Russian Exiles

00:01:31,644 VO: Tbilisi, capital of Georgia. Since the end of the Soviet Union, many Russians have left to settle in this country. Their number has exploded since the war in Ukraine. Nearly 40,000 people came to take refuge there. A large part of the exiles are found in in the poor districts of Tbilisi. A few clothes hastily taken away and off she went without looking back. Daria is aware of how far she has come since she left Russia less than a week ago, for political reasons.

00:02:15,110 Daria: On the day that the war began on the 24^th February, I knew that nothing good could be expected. But honestly I didn’t believe that it would be so bad, because when all the independent media started to shut down, I felt very alone and very threatened.

2’20 Daria, Journalist and activist

00:02:40,375 VO: -Daria tries not to let it get to her, in spite of her concern for her mother who is still in Russia. The journalist remains active on social networks and relays all useful information for her compatriots.

00:02:53:080 Daria: When propaganda is everywhere, on every corner, in every village, then in things like internet sources, it becomes more complicated. A lot of people are deprived from this information, but at the same time it’s not their fault. It’s one of the things that the regime is using to build itself, to be stronger.

00:03:20,659 VO: -A student of political science in Prague, where she was forbidden to stay due to her nationality, she knows what she is talking about when she invokes freedom of expression.

00:03:31,190 Daria: That’s the worst thing that can happen, when they deprive your right to say things you want to say. And this is what everyone should be afraid of. Democracy and freedom of speech is our greatest gift, and it’s not a gift, it’s something we have to fight for. And some people don’t want to fight.

00:04:01,588 VO: -Georgia is open to receive victims of repression, but we also feel the solidarity with Ukraine everywhere in Tbilisi. Among the Russians who arrived in Georgia are many young people just like Seraphim. At the age of 21, he fled his hometown to avoid being conscripted in the army.

00:04:32,058 Seraphim: -I wanted to be an actor. But what to do next? Actors who have stayed in Russia are going though a nightmare. If they are against the war, they can't find a job. It's a financial reality.

4’42 Seraphim, Artist

00:04:54,817 VO: -We have an appointment in a café since his apartment is not pleasant to be in.

00:05:06,246 Seraphim: -Some worrying phenomena have appeared, like this letter Z written everywhere. To me, it's a fascist symbol. People started to have it on their bodies, to use it in their speech, etc. This letter became threatening to me.

00:05:41,289 VO: -He is now safe in Georgia, but the insecure feeling he had in Russia has not totally left him.

00:05:49,505 Seraphim: -Georgia is so close to Russia. We don't know what Russia's next move will be. Where will Russia attack? I still feel that fear here.

00:06:07,063 VO: -Georgians know the Russian threat well: they have paid for it several times. A long-standing conflict exists between the two countries. In this sanatorium on the outskirts of Tbilisi, and now left in ruins, live some Georgians who left Abkhazia in 1992. Tamar was still a baby, but the current war resonates more than e ver in her.

00:06:33,282 Tamar: -Everyone is talking about the war in Ukraine. Our people having lived through a war 30 years ago, we are more sensitive than others to these events.

6’42 Tamar, Social worker

00:06:50,060 Woman from window: -Tamar!

Tamar: -Hi! How are you!

Woman in window: -Good thanks, and you?

Tamar: -What are you doing?

Woman in window: -Nothing special.

Tamar: -See you soon!

00:07:05,230 VO: -30 years after the tragedy that affected her people, when Georgia became a land of welcome for the Russians, it left a bitter taste in many an Abkhazian. When they come as tourists, it's even more problematic.

00:07:20,981 Tamar: -Knowing the context of the war in Ukraine, but also in relation to what happened in Georgia, because of Russia, it's ethically totally unacceptable that Russians can taste traditional Abkhazian dishes without ever taking any responsibility for what happened.

00:07:53,169 VO: -The opposition exists, and the resistance groups opposing Russia from Georgia want to face their responsibilities. We find Daria again, the journalist who's just arrived in Georgia.

00:08:07,110 Daria to friend: For example, at this event yesterday there was a Georgian journalist who was explaining how the war of 2008 traumatised people and how it even became possible, and how Russian propaganda was done in that period.

00:08:22,719 VO: -This evening, the young activists attend the conference of Lev Ponomaryov, the legendary Russian human rights activist.

00:08:31,631 Lev: -I started fighting for political rights many years ago. There are a lot of young people here. This generation is committed to opposing the Russian regime. In Russia, the tradition of demonstrating in the street is almost non-existent. This can only happen in Moscow or in St. Petersburg. It could happen if the war is prolonged and leads to an economic catastrophe, which will certainly happen at the end of this year. We hope that Putin's close advisors realize that the responsibility of this catastrophe will be his and that they will thus have to oppose him.

8’52 Lev Ponomaryov, Political activist

00:09:22,678 VO: -The next morning, we find Seraphim. He came to visit his friends, a family that left Moscow, because staying in the country had become morally untenable.

00:09:40,116 Alexei: -By staying in the country that started a war, you become an accomplice to the massacre of thousands of people. It's obvious from a moral point of view but it is a complicated issue too. I hear many people say "go back to Russia and protest!" But it is impossible because of this oppressive system that's been around for 20 years.

9’49 Alexei, Musician

00:10:07,200 VO: -Despite this drama, Aleksei's children refuse to respond with hatred and violence.

00:10:14,444 Sonya: -Some people burned down Putin's poster in Tbilisi. I understand them. Others want him dead. I hate this man, but wishing him dead is to fight violence with violence, and I'm don't want to do that.

10’27 Sonya, Student

00:10:39,461 VO: -Aleksei and his children are Jewish and they may go to look for a future in Israel, a chance that others may not have. But the return to Russia is not possible for the moment.

00:10:52,541 Sasha: -We live in fear in Russia, you never know what can happen, if you'll be arrested or not.

10’58 Sasha, Student

00:11:03,880 Sonya: -I am also afraid. I feel this violence. Going back to Russia would be difficult: too many people support the war and that is unbearable.

00:11:20,080 VO: -Seraphim received a short invitation to Sweden for a short time to perform at a music festival. But his future remains uncertain.

00:11:31,042 Seraphim: -Before the war, we were considered as a cultured, profound people, even with Putin in power. But this completely disappeared with the beginning of the war. People saw what was going on in Ukraine, and it shocked them so much that Dostoyevsky or Tolstoy have lost all value.

11’48 Seraphim, Artist

00:11:55,275 VO: -The richness of Russian culture is damaged by ignorance, the freedom of expression is threatened by dictatorship. How can one intellectually survive the debacle?

00:12:07,030 Daria: I’m doing my job, connecting people. We are connecting with each other, and we are trying to be happy and build our small new lives in this new environment.

12’16 Daria, Journalist and activist

00:12:20,595 VO: -Maybe those young exiles will organize the revolt. Maybe they will be able to reinvent a future for Russia, far from their homeland.

12’35 Credits:

Carol Haefliger

Tamar Kalandadzé

Ana Acosta

Renée-Jeanne Acquaviva

Edgard Biondina

Cathy Sommer