Georgia, a bleak new home for Russian exiles

Georgia, a bleak new home for Russian exiles

TBILISI, Georgia: Sitting at a windswept terrace of a tiny bar in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi, Russian exile Roman Mikhailov said he had no choice but to leave his country “immediately” when Moscow invaded Ukraine. The 25-year-old logistics manager said the attack on Ukraine, which shocked the world, was a point of no return for some Russians who oppose President Vladimir Putin’s longtime rule. He is among those Russians who fled in large numbers to Georgia within days-or even hours-of Moscow’s invasion, to escape asphyxiating Western sanctions and a feared escalation in repression by the authorities.

“The majority of Russians support Putin and it’s very hard to be even politically neutral,” he told AFP from the Russian expats’ favourite bar, deep in the labyrinth of Tbilisi’s narrow streets. “I am against Putin and the only prospect I have in Russia is to end up in prison-like Navalny.” Opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who led the biggest protests against Putin that Russia has seen in recent years, has been jailed and his political organisations banned. There are few routes out of Russia for those wishing to leave now. Western airspace is largely closed to Russian carriers.

But Tbilisi has for years served as a hub for Russian