Thousands of Ukrainians have been deported to Russia. Some of them have ended up in Siberia, on the border with North Korea. – They have no choice, says priest Grigory Mikhnov-Vaytenko.

After weeks of bombing and artillery fire, thousands of Ukrainians living in the city of Mariupol were finally evacuated to safety. Russia announced in late April that it had seized control of the strategically important port city located on the Sea of ​​Azov in the breakaway province of Donetsk in southeastern Ukraine.

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But those who will be evacuated should not be allowed to enter the part of Ukraine that is still under Kiev’s rule.

Instead, they were sent into enemy territory.

– Many of them told me that they preferred to travel to the territory of Ukraine, but did not get the chance. They could travel to Russian territory, or they could stay in Mariupol. And in the city it is too dangerous to live, Russian priest and human rights activist Grigory Mikhnov-Vaytenko told VG.

Instead, many Ukrainian passenger buses are driven from Mariupol and across the border into Russia. The same must have happened in Kharkiv.

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– It’s not that they brought guns to the temple and were taken to the evacuation bus, but that wasn’t a voluntary evacuation either. They had no choice, the priest explained.

And on the Russian side of the border, where waiting for Mikhnov-Vaytenko and the volunteer apparatus he put in place to help Ukrainian refugees who came to Russia.

The priest is an outspoken critic of Putin, and left the Russian Orthodox Church eight years ago, in protest of Russia’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula. Mikhnov-Vaytenko is now Archbishop of the Baltic Apostolic Orthodox Church. In addition, he is the leader of the Human Rights Council monitoring group in St. Petersburg.

Here they are sent

The Ukrainian refugees were first taken by bus to the Russian cities of Taganrov and Rostov-on-Don, a few hours’ drive east of Mariupol. They were then transported in their own evacuation trains to various parts of Russia, the refugees themselves report.

– Some have been sent to the area around the far eastern city of Vladivostok, and others to the northern part of Siberia. Just look at the map – all of Russia is involved in this, Mikhnov-Vaytenko told VG.

– These camps are far from civilization. There is a good place to rest, but not a good place to live, work or have any prospects, the Russian priest said.

– How are conditions in these camps?

– This is clay from the Soviet era that the unions used to rest. The standards are pretty basic.

– Do you think the Kremlin is trying to fill the pig-infested territory of the country with this?

– No, I don’t think so, they don’t care what happens to these Ukrainians, replied Mikhnov-Vaytenko.

Further away from Vladivostok, 300 Ukrainian refugees were persuaded to travel to the village of Vrangel, east of Vladivostok, according to Russia’s independent online newspaper. Meduz.

They are said to have been promised free housing, low interest rates and jobs, but have yet to receive any share.

“I don’t know who I can turn to for help, and I don’t know what to do,” Olga, a Ukrainian nurse from Mariupol who has been deported to Vrangel, told Meduza.

Acute lack of information

The Russian priest said the refugees he and his colleagues spoke to were confused and distraught.

– They have been expelled from their country, and they have no access to information. That’s the biggest challenge, said the priest on the phone from St. Petersburg.

Ukrainian refugees do not know what they are entitled to, where they can live, whether they can find work, whether they can travel abroad or whether they can return to Ukraine. Most of them came almost empty-handed without much money or possessions, the priest said.

– We tell them about the rules, try to find a place to live for them, and book trips to other parts of Russia or abroad. We are trying to find medicine for the needy, and teaching materials for school children.

start from zero

Mikhnov-Vaytenko said that so far, after more than three months of war, they have helped hundreds of refugees. He had long since lost count, he said.

– They are very much. We have little time to talk to each individual. We asked where they wanted to go, if they had relatives waiting in another country and if they had identity documents. Then we say “good luck and be careful”.

There is no infrastructure to accept refugees into Russia, according to the priest.

– Nothing is prepared for this situation. We have organized ourselves from ground zero.

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Ukrainians living in old Soviet camps in Siberia and other areas are trying to escape there, according to the priest.

Many of them prefer to return to Ukraine, but this is demanding for a variety of reasons: There is unsafe and ongoing fighting in parts of the country, and the Russian-Ukrainian border is closed to civilians. The same is the border between Ukraine and Belarus. Therefore, they must first go to Romania, Moldova, Hungary, Slovakia or Poland, and then cross to Ukraine.

– Very demanding to arrange that they travel back to Ukraine. It is much easier for them to travel to Germany or other European countries, the priest said.

He said he wasn’t afraid

– Are you exposing yourself to risk by doing this job?

– No, I don’t need to hide the help I give.

– You have explicitly criticized the Russian authorities before?

– Yes, because I believe the politicians are anti-Christian, so I am against them. I am not against Russia, the Russian language or the Russian people. I am against the government, and I am against war, first and foremost. First Chechnya, then Crimea, then Syria, and now Ukraine. For years, Russia has been at war, and I don’t understand what we are doing here.

– What do most Russians think of the present invasion of Ukraine, in your opinion?

– There are more people who are skeptical and opposed to war than the government will give away in the propaganda we see in the newspapers and on TV. I think more than 80 percent are against war, replied the priest.

He said he knew many Russians trying to help Ukrainian refugees in Russia, like himself.

– There are many examples of Russians spending money on Ukrainians, who gave them assets and put them in their homes. But we do all this ourselves – without any support from the authorities.