For the past 12 months, it has been harder and dearer for Russians to travel abroad.
But some say that is only the start of their concerns.
With anti-Russian sentiment on the rise, several Russian residents spoke to CNBC Travel about their worries, how they’re treated once they travel, and what goes through their minds when people ask where they’re from.
How traveling has modified for Russians
Julia Azarova, an independent journalist, said she left Russia a 12 months ago. She said she fled Moscow for Istanbul after the invasion of Ukraine, before eventually settling in Lithuania.
“I had to depart my very own country” or risk imprisonment, she said. “We needed to pack our things in a day and go.”
Since then, Azarova said she’s been to Latvia twice, but she will be able to’t go to Ukraine, where she has relatives. Her Russian friends have encountered problems entering into Poland, while her colleagues have been prevented from entering Georgia, the latter likely in a show of loyalty to Putin, she said.
Anna — who asked that we not use her real name over fears of “unpredictable consequences” — has the alternative problem. She said she’s in Moscow and doesn’t know when she is going to leave Russia again.
Traveling somewhere abroad looks like something unimaginable and unimaginable.
“Normally, I’d visit one to 2 countries a 12 months,” she said. But now “traveling somewhere abroad looks like something unimaginable and unimaginable.”
Traveling, especially airfare, could be very expensive, she said. Also, “Russian bank cards are blocked almost all over the place and buying foreign currency in Russia is so difficult.”
As for when she plans to go abroad again: “Probably when the war ends.”
One other Russian traveler, Lana, also asked that we not use her full name over fears of retaliation from Russian authorities. She lives in Asia and was planning to go home last summer for the primary time for the reason that pandemic began, she said.
But she canceled the trip after the invasion of Ukraine, she said, despite her parents not having seen her child in years.
“I didn’t know what was going to occur,” she said, adding that the danger of border closures or flight cancellations prompted her decision.
What it’s like meeting other people
Slightly than returning home, Lana traveled around Asia — to places like Thailand and Japan.
It’s “really hard to go abroad and meet latest people considering that you simply are the person from Russia — and the way people will reply to that,” Lana said.
She said when people ask where’s she from, there’s an “anticipation moment” that did not exist when she was young.
“Back then, once you say ‘I’m from Russia,’ the very first thing people say is vodka, bears, Matryoshka [dolls], and all that innocent stuff,” she said. “You sort of feel like yeah, I’m from Russia — it’s cool.”
Lana told CNBC Travel being from Russia used to elicit comments about ballet, vodka and Matryoshka dolls.
Bo Zaunders | Corbis Documentary | Getty Images
However it’s different now, she said. While traveling, she braced for negative comments. Yet thus far none have come, she said. Slightly, people have offered words of sympathy and concern, she said.
Lana could have been lucky. A wave of anger at Russia has blanketed parts of the world, from Europe to america, in incidents which the Russian government has used to stoke nationalism within the country.
“Not everyone understands that the federal government, the country and the people, it isn’t all the time the identical thing,” she said. “For instance you are from … [the United] States, I mean, you would possibly not support Trump in any case, right? The identical thing’s been happening in Russia for the past, probably, 10 years.”
Anna said telling latest people she’s Russian has “all the time been tricky, to be honest, even before the war.”
She said there is a “prejudice and stigma about Russians,” describing instances in Polish restaurants where waitstaff refused to serve her after spotting her Russian guidebook. After that, she began hiding her nationality more, she said.
She said being asked where she’s from will probably be even harder once she starts traveling abroad again.
“After the war, I suppose, I will be afraid of the query much more, because I’ll immediately feel the necessity to start out explaining myself, fearing a negative and aggressive response.”
Azarova agreed it’s hard to fulfill foreigners, especially as she wrestles together with her own feelings of “guilt.”
“You understand that you simply personally have not done anything incorrect, but you’ll be able to’t eliminate the concept something’s incorrect with you personally,” she said.
After the invasion, Russian journalist Julia Azarova fled Moscow together with her husband, who can be a journalist. She said she welcomes people asking her in regards to the war. “I’m truthfully very, very glad to say what I take into consideration that.”
Source: Julia Azarova
Since leaving Russia, Azarova said she’s not had any confrontations over her nationality. Nevertheless, like Anna, she said she often feels the necessity to quickly say how she feels in regards to the war.
She said her conversations with foreigners have helped her because “you get the sensation that no person’s blaming you.”
Now she’s now now not afraid to say she’s Russian, she said, namely because she will be able to’t do anything about it.
“But I can do something to point out the face of Russians who should not for Putin, who should not for that war … and who tried to do something to stop it.”
She now covers the war for the news channel Khodorkovsky Live, a YouTube channel backed by the exiled Russian businessman and distinguished Kremlin critic, Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
What they want people knew about Russians
“Persons are just people,” Lana said, “no matter nationality, your passport, your citizenship. I’ve lived in just a few countries. I’ve traveled quite a bit. From my experience, more often than not stereotypes just don’t stand.”
Anna said she wants the world to know that not all Russians are “crazy scary.” Slightly, they’re friendly, warm-hearted, able to help and desperate to be good friends, she said.
“Lots of us try hard to vary something but people should know that it’s difficult and really dangerous indeed to do … People should know, that behind scary news about Russia, there are hundreds of thousands of Russians, who are suffering, who’re scared and who’re trapped, and who pray for peace each day.”
Azarova said she wishes the world understood that sanctioning the Russian people, versus the federal government and ruling elite, won’t influence Putin.
Lana said of recent trips to Thailand and Japan: “If you seek advice from people on a private level, they don’t perceive you as a representative of a rustic …you are only a human being together with your own thoughts and feelings.”
Tomosang | Moment | Getty Images
That is because their opinions don’t affect change, like in a democracy, since “Putin is just not an elected leader. This can be a very, very necessary point. He hasn’t been elected in a good and free election,” she said.
Plus, Putin doesn’t care what happens to Russian people, she said — their difficulties won’t change anything.
What’s going to? “If Putin is removed by force” she said. But “Russian people haven’t got … weapons.”
The longer term
Lana said she’s fearful in regards to the future.
“I do not … see a way out of the present situation. I’m afraid that Russia is … stuck,” she said.
Azarova said that, although she misses Moscow tremendously, she is slowly accepting she may never live there again.
“Never mind all the issues … it’s still a really beautiful city with all my memories of my childhood,” she said.
But she said, her home, the way in which she knew it, “now not exists.”