Siberia, prison, or straight to the mines? A timeline of Russia’s debate over what to do with citizens who left but want to return
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Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov says in an interview that he’s confident Russians who left the country after the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine will begin to return sooner or later. But Russia, he adds, is not prepared to welcome all of them back: “There likely won’t be a place in the motherland for those who have become enemies.”
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In the wake of Hamas’s attack on Israel, journalists ask Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov whether Russians who left after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine have anything to fear if they return to Russia. “Listen, citizens of the Russian Federation live in many countries throughout the world, and the Russian Federation is their motherland. How can one’s motherland threaten them?” Peskov responds.
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Russian lawmakers discuss Russians who left the country in response to the war against Ukraine. State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin says that not all returnees will be gladly received.
When we talk about people who left the country and committed vile acts, cheering gunfire on Russian territory, desiring victory for the murderous Nazi Kyiv regime, they need to realize that not only are we not keen for their return, but if they come here, they can count on going to Magadan. [...] We must be true to the guys who are fighting and dying for our country, for the security of our citizens. Whereas if people start migrating from country to country, arriving somewhere, kissing the boots of people there, paying money made in Russia to get passports there, and then get kicked out and come back here, those are people we don’t need. They need to understand that. On our end, we need to do everything possible to keep those people from ending up back here. Let them stay where they are. It’s only right, given that they’ve made their choice — let them put on uniforms and defend the country they’ve chosen to be their new motherland. Let them show how much they love it. And if they try to betray it too, who needs them? Certainly not us.
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Magadan Mayor Sergey Nosov says his region doesn’t accept “traitors,” calling the image of Magadan as a place of exile an outdated stereotype.
“Kolyma doesn’t welcome vile people; it doesn’t accept traitors. This is a stereotype, an old cliche, and it’s long past time to get rid of it,” Nosov says, adding that the region is home to “wonderful people” who are “true patriots of their country.”
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In light of Volodin’s comments, journalists ask Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov about his assurance that returnees to Russia have nothing to fear. Peskov qualifies his earlier statement:
I think the speaker was referring to those who have a clear anti-Russian position and who have sided with the Kyiv regime. Indeed, we’re not on the same path as those people. But we [in the Kremlin] are talking about the overwhelming majority of people, who can freely choose where to live at any given moment. These people, of course, always have their motherland, no matter what. That motherland is Russia. And it’s always waiting for them.
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On Telegram, State Duma Deputy Roza Chemeris posts a video of a closed session in which Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin appears to backtrack on his idea to send returning Russians to Magadan and instead proposes prosecuting them for high treason.
[The Magadan region] isn’t keen to accept traitors to our country who left. They’re concerned, understandably, that such a policy would have a negative impact on them. Because these are deadbeats who, in addition to not loving their motherland, have now started wandering around the world. At the end of the day, nobody needs them; they think they can find refuge in Magadan, but residents [of the Magadan region] see this as a threat and an insult. So let’s fix the proposal. [...]
Their actions correspond to Article 275 in the Criminal Code: “High Treason.” So if they’re now starting to come back, but at the same time they’ve made statements against the country and are also financing the armed forces of Ukraine, then, of course, we need to go ahead and decide where the best place to immediately send them is. But that’s not Magadan, because Magadan is a developed region. As [State Duma Deputy] Nikolai Kharitonov has suggested, they should most likely be sent to the mines. And we need to consider a location where the weather is more constant, so that there’s no summer there.
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Deputy Prime Minister Yury Trutnev advises Russians who left the country to come back “quietly.” “I don’t take kindly to cowards, to people who have fled their motherland. […] As far as I’m concerned, these people have ceased to exist. At the same time, […] they’re citizens of Russia, so they have the right to return. I would just advise them to come back quietly. The main thing is to start working immediately — they need to help their country, to help achieve victory in the special military operation,” Trutnev told journalists.