Russia has always been in light for being sweet and sour to either its citizens or sometimes to foreign nationals as well. Normally, when one feels the burden of living under such circumstances, they either move out or sidestep and even say that we should take some action as it is not working out. A similar situation happened with Russian citizens, as following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to call a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, more and more people started feeling negative about the ideology of the Kremlin and are starting to feel the long-term impact it will have upon the Russian community.
As per reports, over 300,000 Russians have already left Russia after Putin’s call for a full-scale military operation against Ukraine. Groups and groups of people, who have now understood the actual plan started taking sides against President Putin and started criticizing his ideology, but the only problem in this is the “infringement of citizen’s right to speak.” It is what brings them under a continuous threat of either being imprisoned or danger of getting killed.
In a recent move to shut down people, Moscow has enacted a censorship law under which if anybody is found speaking against the ideology of the Russian government or about the war, including calling it an “invasion” or “war”, they will have to face 15 years of imprisonment.
According to several media reports, “Over thousands of people have been nabbed, arrested or captured during protests in over dozens of cities across Russia against Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked war in Ukraine.”
The reports further mentioned that “Around 4,888 people were captured during protests in over 69 cities as of early March 7. In Moscow, the number of detainees was at least 2,319.” Some other reports are suggesting that the police department may have arrested more people as compared to the real figures.
The war has grown so much attention around the world, that several Western nations are stepping alongside Ukraine and are taking sides against Russia for its brutality. Moreover, the steps that Western nations have taken are turning into doom for the people of Russia.
Meanwhile, some of Russia’s billionaires, known for sharing close relations with President Putin, are speaking out against his act of invading Ukraine as they are striving to run operations both in Russia or abroad in a complete way as before and suffering huge losses.
Many Russians who are against Russia’s narrative are looking for ways to flee their nation in the hope of starting a new life. But consequently, several nations have barred Russians from stepping into their nations following the Russia-Ukraine war crisis as a part of sanctions and to safeguard their nations from the threat.
Contributions of Russia towards the world in field of defence-
Russia has been considered as the world’s second-largest arms exporter, behind the United States, accounting for around 20% of global weapons sales. Between 2016 & 2020, Moscow sold $28 billion of weapons to 45 nations.
Russia exports to around 90% of its arms to 10 nations. Its biggest customer, India, bought 23% of Russia’s weapons for some $6.5 billion over the last five years. Half of India’s total arms imports, which is around 49.3%, comes from Russia.
Moreover, China is the second-largest buyer of Russian weaponry at %5.1 billion over the same period followed by Algeria ($4.2 billion), Egypt ($3.3 billion), and Vietnam ($1.7 billion), as per the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
Russia exports a several weapons including planes, engines, missiles, armoured vehicles and air defence systems.
Aircraft make up nearly half (48.6 per cent) of Russian arms exports. During 2016 to 2020 Russia delivered around 400 fighter jets including the Sukhoi as well as MiG family of jets, to around 13 nations. India bought at least half of them. India is also one of among the six nations in the world that operate nuclear-powered submarines it has on lease from Russia.
While a lot of Russia’s weapons are upgrades to their Soviet-era arsenal, it is increasingly developing more advanced systems, including the S-400 surface-to-air missile defence system, which has been sold to China, India, Syria and Turkey. Several other countries have shown interest in purchasing the long-range mobile systems, which cost about $400m per unit.
The only hope left for Russians-
Amid the growing tensions, the whole situation has forced Russians to rethink about their future, career and safety. They have a lot of fear to live in a situation of tumbling economy of the nation and the authoritarian policy of the Russian government.
The entire situation has compelled Russians to look for ways to escape their own nation in the hope of starting a new life. As per the information, the government of Russia has put more than 75,000 people behind the bars due to anti-war protests around the nation.
Furthermore, political prosecution has also emerged as one of the major reason behind the departure of the Russians. Additionally, people have lost their faith in the nation’s government and believe that the situation inside the nation will never improve. Due to the huge violation of human rights and a forcible ban on the right of freedom of speech, people are witnessing a huge threat and a suffocated-centric environment.
This is why Russians have decided to migrate to other nations. As per reports, Georgia has received more than 100,000 refugees from Russia, and Armenia has reported similar data.
Though, the Russians are facing territorial or entry restrictions because of the country’s tarnished image across the globe.
Besides this, nations such as the U.K., U.S., Europe and Canada have shut down their airspace to Russian flights, so they are going to nations where flights are still allowed and where visas are not required, including Turkey, Central Asia, and the South Caucasus. Russians have faced political repression, forced military service, and closed borders. However, despite clearing their stand, they are being bullied due to their nationality.
Russians are facing isolation from around the globe as they are looking for humanitarian assistance from other nations, but facing huge rejections as most of the asylums declined to give shelter to the people from Russia due to their country’s torn image.
Russians are witnessing the worst situation that could be witnessed in their words of them. Several Russians are facing difficulty in survival as their own motherland is becoming a hell for them and other countries are putting restrictions on them.
Several Russians have stated that this is a great injustice to their human rights as they don’t ask the President of Russia to start war against Ukraine.
Due to strict restrictions imposed by the Western governments, Russian oligarchs are flocking to the nations to get economic citizenship. In the worst situation, economic citizenship is the only way out for the people of Russia.
The CBI Programme will make it easy for Russian nationals to travel to different nations. The major benefit of the CBI Programme will be to provide people tranquillity, relaxation and freedom. Russians divided by Putin’s conflict can live the life they want and continue with their education and careers. The scheme for citizenship by investment will wield ambiguity.
For example, the Caribbean offers citizenship by investment programmes where a person has to contribute money to public works initiatives. Regardless of the applicant’s race, nationality, or language, alternative citizenship will be granted to them after extensive due diligence by international independent third party firms on the applicants.
The CBI Programmes of the following nations offer visa-free travel to several nations, including those that support neither Russia nor Ukraine. Russians just want stability and security for their families and the CBI Programme is one of the greatest options to let themselves and their families live under the shed of security and stability.
