The fear of being called up to fight in the war in Ukraine has forced thousands of Russians to leave their country with their families.with Vietnam as one of their favorite destinations due to its mild climate and the facilities that many have to obtain work and visas.
Valentin, a 24-year-old Russian man, emigrated to Ho Chi Minh (formerly Saigon) with his wife Katherina last October in a hurry to avoid the call-up that the Russian government had announced weeks before and plans to settle in the country at long term.
His youth and lack of family responsibilities make the transfer easier, but this is not the case of other Russians that EFE has contacted and who prefer not to give their testimony, even anonymously for fear of reprisals.
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Among them are young families with small children who have been out of school for months and who barely manage to pronounce a few words of English for day-to-day life, or parents who change engineering jobs in their country for precarious jobs as an English teacher in kindergartens. and they send money to their wives, who have not yet emigrated with their children.
Teaching English in kindergartens seems to be one of the preferred positions, and it is the one that Valentin has obtained through an agency, which for a few hours a day “acting as an entertainer” offers him a salary of about $1,500 a month.
“In the center where I work there are four other Russians in a situation similar to mine. It’s funny, it seems that there is a competition between Russians to be an English teacher in kindergartens”he says, aware that his fair skin and light hair help him get the job because of the prejudices of many Vietnamese families.
THE ANGUISH OF THE JOURNEY
Relaxed with his wife in a restaurant on the outskirts of the city, Valentin now tells with a smile the odyssey they lived to leave the Crimea (which he considers part of Russia), where he had lived since his childhood and where his parents still live. and many of their relatives.
“With the mobilization, the price of the tickets doubled. We stopped in Baku, Dubai, Malaysia and the Philippines until we reached Vietnam. Before leaving there were rumors that the Government had a list of citizens who could not leave the country, but I don’t think that it be true. At the border we saw how many were taken by the Police to be interrogated”remember.
The young man, who has completed his military service, also had to answer questions from the authorities, but he was successful and was able to leave the country. “I didn’t lie to them because otherwise I get nervous. I told them we wanted to visit Vietnam and it went well,” he recalls.
“I was very nervous before crossing the border. I couldn’t eat for five days and I was shaking,” says Katherina, 25.
HISTORICAL RELATIONSHIP WITH VIETNAM
One of the reasons that this couple and other Russians use to choose Vietnam is the bureaucratic facilities to settle, since they can renew their visa every month for free, unlike the majority of foreigners residing in Vietnam.
Since the days of the Soviet Union, Vietnam’s main allied power during the cold war, the Asian country has been one of the favorite destinations for Russian tourists, who flee the inclement Russian winter in beach destinations such as Danang, Nhatrang, Mui Ne or Phu Quoc.
These sites have also become the places of residence for some of those fleeing the draft, although many others go to neighboring Thailand or the Indonesian island of Bali, according to what several Russian citizens residing in Vietnam have told EFE. .
Although according to the Vietnamese Tourism Administration in 2022 only 40,000 Russians entered Vietnam (compared to 650,000 who did so in 2019, before the pandemic), a part of them, like Valentin and Katherina, have arrived without a return ticket.
“In the last year there are four destinations to which we Russians moved: Thailand, Dubai, Bali and Vietnam”, says Valentin, who assures that he does not maintain excessive contact with the Russian community to avoid bitter debates on the subject of war.
“We all want there to be no war, but in different ways. When we’re together we don’t talk about it or I let everyone express their opinion,” says Valentin, who prefers his native Crimea to remain partly Russian to avoid possible negative changes in the lives of their parents.
He is aware that he will not see them for a long time, at least while the war lasts, but he prefers to focus on his new life, on his fledgling career as a teacher and on his wife’s project of setting up a dance academy.
“We want to stay, start a new life here”, says. EFE