They took my daughter to the orphanage luckily for two days because of this reason (I'm a single parent).
Russia is persecuting dissenters by taking away their children
241–250 of 381 posts
Re: Russia is persecuting dissenters by taking away their children
#242Any Russians on here to explain why dissenters wouldn’t work on leaving the country rather than token demonstrations like this?
I'm an immigrant that legally migrated into Schengen from outside Schengen. I currently have a temporary residence permit. I don't come from a country basically at war with NATO, I have a job, I earn good money, I contribute to society, I follow the laws, and still this is the most difficult thing I have ever done in my whole life, and it is not particularly close. It is expensive, it is time consuming, it is life co…
Migrating to Schengen is indeed hard (bordering on imposing) to a lot of Russians, but that’s not the only nice place in the world.
For example India right now is quite accepting of Russian immigrants - the place is full of them. There are a lot of places that are still open, and would welcome experienced workers from Russia, granted it might not be as glamorous as EU, but I bet at this point a lot of Africa would look like an egalitarian paradise.
You are totally right that it is incredibly hard, but as a russian who had migrated to the EU I wouldn’t say it’s insurmountable - granted I did it way before the invasion, but still I never felt threatened - it was all time consuming, bureaucratic and slow, but I just had to follow the process.
Software devs seem to be in demand everywhere so plenty of peaceful and nice places for us lot to settle thankfully.
Re: Russia is persecuting dissenters by taking away their children
#243Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a .by native I never needed to go through any definitive source. But you often encounter useful nuggets in e.g. ISW reports and general long reads on situation with the Russian invasion. Naturally troubles in Belarus now pale to the savagery committed in Ukraine daily so there hasn't been much in terms of focused studies. But it's not like Lukashenka runs some policy think tank anyway. He mostly wings it, often de…
I don't think Putin ever bothered to ask for his opinion. From my neck of the woods Belarus seems to have been pretty much under foreign occupation since 2020. AFAIK the Russian military has had almost total control over your military bases and airfields even before the war started. We (KZ) had enough sense to stay out from day one, but probably only were allowed to do so because we're so far away and have no borders…
It's a popular opinion certainly that I've heard many times. Russian official support was essential in convincing local LE to commit to the government and squash the protests. But when you look at the ratio of Russian forces to Belarusian within the country at the moment it's hardly an occupation.
The reason I'm uncomfortable with this narrative though is it denies Lukashenka's part in this. All Belarusians are aware of the sheer amount of glee, joy and pride in his addresses during the build up and the first day of the invasion. I am convinced he was a willing ally, seething to get even with the West and to show it to stubborn people home who's the great one.
Re: Russia is persecuting dissenters by taking away their children
#244Earlier quoted context omitted.
Better to be black in America than Russian in Russia. We got our problems over here, but at least we aren’t being conscripted and thrown into the meat grinder of a pointless war.
> being conscripted and thrown into the meat grinder I will be labeled as a brainwashed ruskie and downvoted into oblivion if I point out that it isn't really true, right?
How come? Several of my friends' coworkers were conscripted and sent to the front (the friends themselves managed to leave the country the next day). I don't even need to believe what the newspapers are saying — it's straight from the horse's mouth.
The conscription has not reached Ukraine's levels yet, but only because 2024 is not far away, and Putin expects to get his 75% without too much trouble. After that, who knows.
Re: Russia is persecuting dissenters by taking away their children
#245Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm an immigrant that legally migrated into Schengen from outside Schengen. I currently have a temporary residence permit. I don't come from a country basically at war with NATO, I have a job, I earn good money, I contribute to society, I follow the laws, and still this is the most difficult thing I have ever done in my whole life, and it is not particularly close. It is expensive, it is time consuming, it is life co…
Migrating to Schengen is indeed hard (bordering on imposing) to a lot of Russians, but that’s not the only nice place in the world. For example India right now is quite accepting of Russian immigrants - the place is full of them. There are a lot of places that are still open, and would welcome experienced workers from Russia, granted it might not be as glamorous as EU, but I bet at this point a lot of Africa would lo…
Software devs are in demand everywhere, and I know one who migrated to the same country I migrated to, from Russia, and I know that he is consumed with the threat of being deported back home, having to face being shot or shooting Ukrainians. I tell him I doubt it will happen, I want him to be able to somehow not be consumed with the prospect of going back to the shithole that is Russia, but I every time I console him, it is a lie, I lie to his face, because I can't even convince myself that I can somehow manage to stay here, but I lie because I know that being consumed with worry is like being in hell, and if I can somehow spare him that I will, even if it is a lie.
There may be other places, but it is not easy. Maybe India is an exception, maybe to India it is easy, but to the particular Schengen country I chose, it is anything but easy.
Re: Russia is persecuting dissenters by taking away their children
#246Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’m not Russian but have some experience with moving around with a (once)weak passport: You can’t just go wherever you like. You are not welcome and they won’t let you come if they suspect you might stay. Some conspire to send you to Rwanda, some beat you up on the border, others lock you up in concentration camps. You are also the boogyman for about %20-%50 of the population of the country you go and about that many…
It's really sad what people like you have to overcome. Fortunately this is not the case for majority immigrants from Russia even though it's multinational country. Very few people in west would ever be able to tell if a person in front of them is from Russia, Ukraine or Belarus. In some countries locals can't even tell we're foreigners. Problems of people who immigrating from Russia are mostly financial.
Hah yeah, until you open your mouth - then its usually _painfully_ obvious you’re from Russia. The accent is very distinctive and inescapable.
I have the luck to have learned english when I was a kid, alongside another foreign language, so people place me as “broadly eastern european” rather than precisely Russian but almost all expats I encounter I can immediately tell they are from there.
Re: Russia is persecuting dissenters by taking away their children
#247Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think Putin ever bothered to ask for his opinion. From my neck of the woods Belarus seems to have been pretty much under foreign occupation since 2020. AFAIK the Russian military has had almost total control over your military bases and airfields even before the war started. We (KZ) had enough sense to stay out from day one, but probably only were allowed to do so because we're so far away and have no borders…
It's a popular opinion certainly that I've heard many times. Russian official support was essential in convincing local LE to commit to the government and squash the protests. But when you look at the ratio of Russian forces to Belarusian within the country at the moment it's hardly an occupation. The reason I'm uncomfortable with this narrative though is it denies Lukashenka's part in this. All Belarusians are aware…
What really got me is that he seems to genuinely believe that the protests are driven from the West rather than that the local populace is fed up with him and wants him gone. It is as if he can't believe the evidence right in front of him. Belarus could have been economically roughly where Poland or Lithuania are today. Such a pity.
Re: Russia is persecuting dissenters by taking away their children
#248I don't think he's an immediate threat to society or his daughter and hence don't support the imprisonment. The portrait painted by the Economist is, however, incomplete. I guess because the details are not pretty. Mr. Moskalyov was convicted three times before this trial (but haven't served any jail time): - in 1984 for theft - in 2004 for (illegal) imprisonment without kidnapping - in 2008 for violating production/…
You seem to have a lot of facts handy - do you also happen to have an english translation of the letter his daughter sent to him that you can post here? Just to balance out 20 years old mud.
Re: Russia is persecuting dissenters by taking away their children
#249Re: Russia is persecuting dissenters by taking away their children
#250They've already yoinked hundreds of Ukraine children from families, so why not? Embrace the fuckery and continue the war crimes on your own citizens.
It seems that support for Ukraine is one aspect that crosses demographics here in the UK, Left and Right, Young and Old, Leave and Remain, all fully oppose Russia and broadly support the efforts the UK and the west in general have done. It seems to be that a significant number of people in America seem to support the Russian narrative.
I wonder where were those moralists when Putin's oligarchs were pouring billions of GBP stolen from Russian citizens into London property.