David Chkhikvishvili

TBILISI (Reuters) – Ukrainian refugees who reluctantly find themselves under Moscow’s rule are receiving help from an unlikely quarter: networks of Russian volunteers helping those displaced by the war to leave Russia.

Bogdan Goncharov and his 7-year-old daughter ran from shelling at their Mariupol home in mid March. The family ended up in Russian territory in the south-east Ukraine. Goncharov stated that they were afraid of being sent thousands of km away from their home after learning about other refugees heading to Siberia. He contacted a Russian volunteer to arrange transport to Estonia for them.

Goncharov (26 years old) said, “It is a miracle that we got out.” He was a builder in the past and now lives in Sweden. Thanks to all the volunteers.

For uprooted Ukrainians like Goncharov who don’t want to remain in Russia or Russian-controlled territory, the volunteers provide advice on travel routes as well as help with money, transport and accommodation along the way, according to nine people who are involved in the loose-knit networks or have received help from them.

According to the four people who were involved, many networks are operated by Russians, or people of Russian heritage. They said that while volunteers usually work from abroad, three people who were involved in the networks claimed there are some Russian nationals still living in Russia. These individuals often operate clandestinely, to avoid detection by Russian authorities.

It is one way that Russians affected by war’s devastation can voice their feelings, at a moment when Russian law effectively limits the freedom of citizens to criticise military actions. Reuters interviewed several people.

Russia does not have a law that explicitly prohibits anyone from helping Ukrainians to leave Russia. There is legislation related to non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that gives the government the power to deny registration if it deems they are engaged in activities harmful to Russia’s interests. Russian law requires that NGOs receiving foreign funds and considered to be carrying out political activities, must also submit to further scrutiny.

“We all have this constant feeling of guilt,” said 20-year old Maria Belkina, a Russian native living in Georgia who runs a group that she says has helped around 300 Ukrainians exit Russia. Volunteers Tbilisi also offers humanitarian assistance to Georgian refugees from Ukraine. “Many people from Russia are writing and asking: ‘In what way can I help?’” she said.

Reuters spoke to two other volunteer groups that each said they had helped a thousand or more Ukrainians leave Russia since the conflict began; the news agency wasn’t able to independently confirm the figures. These three groups all stated that many of their clients have been from Mariupol (an important port in the eastern Ukraine which was under siege during wartime), and they’ve helped them resettle many.

The Kremlin and Russia’s emergencies ministry, which deals with refugees, did not respond to requests for comment on the treatment of Ukrainian refugees, the volunteer networks helping them leave the country and how the Russian authorities view their activities.

The Ukrainian government didn’t respond to a request for comment on the work of the volunteers.

Voluntary activities can pose a risk. According to interviews with an organization that monitors police actions against activists, Russians openly opposing the war were subjected to prosecutions and fines.

Two volunteers said that a Russian woman, who helped many Ukrainians cross the Estonian border to Russia from Russia, was stopped by police after being summoned for questioning. She was held without access to legal counsel for several hours, and they didn’t know the details of what she was being questioned about by police.

According to Svetlana Vololazskaya (coordinator of the network with which she volunteers), the woman Irina Gurskaya has been released without charge. That group, called “Rubikus,” has helped about 1,500 Ukrainians leave Russia, said Vodolazskaya, a Russian native who lives in Britain.

Gurskaya didn’t respond to a request for comment, nor did the Kremlin. The police in the Penza region where she lives couldn’t be reached for comment.

The Kremlin called the “special military operation” by Russia to demilitarize its neighbor Ukraine. It was carried out on February 24, 2014. Moscow denied targeting civilians but has stated that it offers humanitarian aid to Ukrainians.

Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that his country has helped 140,000 Mariupol residents. “They can go wherever they want: some want to go to Russia, some to Ukraine,” Putin said. “We are not detaining them. We are providing them with all possible help and support.”

According to United Nations, 740,000 Ukrainians had entered Russia from the Ukraine as of May 6th.

RUSSIAN NETWORK

The volunteer group that helped Goncharov, called “Helping to Leave,” said it had provided practical assistance to about 1,000 people to leave Russia. The Volunteers Tbilisi group said it coordinates with “Helping to Leave.”

“Helping to Leave” is operated by Russians and Russian-speakers based abroad who also have around 100 people inside Russia helping them that are not members of the organisation, according to the group. They put Ukrainians up in their homes “so that they can gather themselves a bit and then we evacuate them from Russia,” said co-founder Naturiko Miminoshvili, who is based in Tbilisi.

Miminoshvili said that the group provides accommodation and information about travel routes, as well as assistance in booking buses and trains. Miminoshvili said that the group advises individuals on their rights.

According to Miminoshvili, and one volunteer who requested to remain anonymous due to security concerns, the group has documented instances in which Russian officials forced people to travel to places they didn’t want or said they were not permitted to leave their accommodation. They didn’t specify how many instances the group had logged.

Anna stated that most requests for assistance from Ukrainians have been made by people fleeing Mariupol. This once bustling port had a population of around 400,000 before the war. The city was under constant bombardment during the conflict and civilians have been starving for water since then. Many of the city’s residents have ended up in Russia or Russian-controlled territory. Reuters spoke with several people who said this was the safest way to get out.

The Georgian government didn’t respond to questions about whether it was aware of the activity of volunteers based within its borders.

LONG JOURNEY

Goncharov claimed that his family and he decided to flee Mariupol in March 15 after the munitions dropped near their apartment. He said that water and electricity had been shut off.

Goncharov and two families rode out together, passing through Russian soldier-manned checkpoints. According to Goncharov, the family spent six days at a Berdiansk hotel, which was controlled by Russian troops in Ukraine. Then they headed for Crimea.

Goncharov claimed that the officials gave the family a place to stay in a guesthouse in the Crimean resort Yalta. He also said they offered them help in their immigration process and a grant for 10,000 roubles, which is approximately $145. According to Goncharov, officials informed him that they had denied the family permission to travel outside of Russia unless they registered them for refugee status.

The guest house, called “Smena,” couldn’t be reached for comment.

Goncharov was also worried that he and his family could be sent to the remote Sakha region in Siberia, as he’d heard other Ukrainians had from a fellow evacuee. On his return to Yalta, he found out that about 50 Ukrainians were transported from Taimyr to the Arctic Ocean the following day. He said that he had heard this from others who had been there and knew Mariupol.

Reuters wasn’t able to verify his accounts of Ukrainians being transported. The Moscow-backed administration in Crimea referred questions about that and the other elements of Goncharov’s account of his time in Yalta to the emergencies ministry in Moscow. The request for comment was not answered by the ministry, as were those from Taimyr’s regional authorities.

While in Yalta, Goncharov said he contacted an acquaintance in Germany, who put him in touch with Anna, the volunteer from the “Helping to Leave” group. Goncharov says she told him to go to Rostov (in southern Russia).

Volunteers arranged to pick him up with his family by private bus, which took them to Estonia’s border. He said that Russian officials interrogated Goncharov over any connections to Ukrainian law enforcement or security forces before allowing him entry to Estonia. This was more than three months after he left Mariupol.

Anna said that Anna had assisted Goncharov to leave Russia. The Estonian government didn’t respond to a request for comment about Goncharov’s account and the activities of the volunteers. The Estonian police reported that between Feb. 24, and May 10, 2009, nearly 19,000 Ukrainians arrived in Estonia via Russia.

‘DEAD SOULS’

Sometimes, assistance for Ukrainian refugees may be ad-hoc. Darya Kiriyenkova is a St. Petersburg dentist who has not been linked to these networks. She said that she took one week off in April to volunteer in Taganrog (a south-west Russian city) at the official reception center for Ukrainian refugees. She said she’d felt shock at the war and wanted to help those affected.

She also said she assisted in the purchase of tickets and travel arrangements for refugee families who were looking to leave Russia. “There were lots of people like that,” said Kiriyenkova, adding they headed mainly to Estonia, Poland and Germany. A few refugees, according to Kiriyenkova, travelled further to Russia in order to visit relatives there or go to Russian locations designated by authorities.

Belkina, who runs the Volunteers Tbilisi group, was born and raised in Russia – a country she said she loved but finds it “sad to see how it is now.” In the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, she and her Ukrainian partner have been providing food and accommodation for newly-arrived Ukrainian refugees, using the hotel owned by her parents as a hub.

They “are like dead souls,” Belkina said of the newly-arrived refugees. “When you look at them you see that they are suffering at the hands of your country.”