Russia's engineered refugee crisis

topic:	Political violence
located:	Russia, Ukraine
editor:	Andrew Getto

This week’s biggest topic is President Vladimir Putin’s decision to recognise the independence of two regions of Ukraine during a muffled, hour-long speech. However, a topic that faded into the background is the fate of the thousands of people who had to hastily leave their homes as a casualty of the Russian president’s game of geopolitical chess. Russia treated the unfortunate people it calls its own with complete cynicism and disregard.

Over the eight years of war, hundreds of thousands of people living in Ukraine’s breakaway, Russian-backed southeastern areas have become accustomed to occasional violence. Even though the situation became a little bit more heated last week, few had the intention to immediately leave; most of those who were scared and had a chance to leave had already done so. But the Kremlin, which had been amassing troops at Ukraine’s border for months, desperately needed a counter-narrative of the imminent Ukrainian aggression.

When no panic ensued, Moscow decided to create one. The authorities of Russia and the so-called ‘People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk’ spent the past week trumpeting about Ukraine’s attempt to subvert gas and water infrastructure, blow up cars and buses and destroy random standalone buildings. Most of these claims have been proven to be lazily concocted fabrications, but they provided the state media something flashy to broadcast.

On 18 February, the separatist authorities declared a mass evacuation. Even though life in these areas was going exactly the same as it had for years, thousands of people were swiftly put into buses heading to Russia. The refugees were assured that Russia was ready to receive them - but, of course, their reception did not go smoothly. There were giant traffic jams at the border, and the women and children inside 30 buses had to spend a night without any food or access to the toilet.

The refugees’ unfortunate adventures continued in Russia: local authorities were not ready to take in masses of people, or even point them in the right direction. As of today, about 100,000 people have arrived and are being distributed across Russia. Many are confused over the prospect of staying in tents or school gyms, but the way back home is closed indefinitely. Putin has ordered to pay every refugee about $125 from the federal budget, but this will hardly suffice for even a month.

The situation is reminiscent of Stalin’s deportations of whole nations: in particular, of Crimean Tatars and Chechens. Of course, those nations were punished by the state for their alleged collaboration with the Nazis, and the people of Donetsk and Luhansk region are, on the contrary, praised and at least promised help and safety. But the root cause of their compelled journeys are the same: arbitrary concepts inside the head of the Kremlin’s ruler.

The people were thrown from the frying pan into the fire for one sole reason: Vladimir Putin needed a televised image of refugees to back up his ridiculous claim that Ukraine (surrounded by a much more powerful military) is going to start a war. He, or anyone else in his circle, does not care about the plight of people, put into cold buses and sent nowhere specific.

On the other hand, they do not care about the comfort of their own praised military, either: the Russian internet was shocked by grotesque photos of Russian soldiers who had to sleep on the floor of a train station without food or water for days.

Vladimir Putin seems like a big fan of the old saying: you can't chop wood without making the chips fly. All that remains is to hope that the West’s sharp reaction will restrain his actions to further stir up the chaos in Ukraine.

Photo by Gabriel Lenca

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