British Broadcasting Company“Our folks respect the Russian and Ukrainian folks,” Savo Dobrovich stated. “I simply did not discover any dangerous relationships.”
It appears like a recipe for rigidity and confrontation: Tens of hundreds of individuals from opposing sides locked in a fierce and protracted battle descending on a small Balkan nation that additionally has reminiscences of current battle.
However Montenegro has up to now managed to manage the inflow of refugees.
Since February 2022, Ukrainian refugees and Russian exiles have flooded throughout Europe, fleeing battle, conscription and Putin’s rule.
Greater than 4 million folks have fled Ukraine and sought non permanent EU safety in Germany, Poland and different locations.
However outdoors the EU, Montenegro has hosted greater than 200,000 Ukrainians, making it the nation with the best variety of Ukrainian refugees per capita on the planet.
“Montenegrin individuals are very affected person, they’re keen to assist,” stated Dobrovic, an proprietor within the Adriatic resort of Budva.
the phrase slowlywhich means “slowly,” is an integral a part of their way of life.
Natalya Sevets-Yermolina, director of the Russian Cultural Middle Reforum in Budva, stated: “This shocked me – they’re mountain folks, however their noisy character All that is left is the will to hug you.
Montenegro’s standing as a NATO member and EU candidate just isn’t with out its issues.
It has a big Serbian inhabitants, lots of whom have pro-Russian sympathies, and 6 Russian diplomats have been expelled two years in the past on suspicion of espionage.
However it received reward for its response to the refugee disaster, particularly its determination to Short-term protected standing granted to Ukrainians, now prolonged till March 2025.
The newest figures, from September final yr, confirmed greater than 10,000 folks had benefited, and the United Nations stated 62,000 Ukrainians had registered some sort of authorized standing at the moment. This represents nearly 10% of Montenegro’s inhabitants.
1000’s extra come from Russia or Belarus.
For all these teams, Montenegro is engaging due to its visa-free regime, comparable languages, shared faith and Western-leaning authorities.
This welcome doesn’t all the time prolong to their high quality of life.
Whereas there are numerous job alternatives for immigrants alongside the coast, these jobs are typically seasonal and low-paying. Higher high quality, skilled jobs are more durable to search out. Thankfully, they have been capable of preserve their jobs again house and work remotely.
One other issue is that it’s nearly inconceivable to acquire citizenship right here, which is an issue for individuals who are unable to resume their passports for no matter motive.
Russian affect has been robust in Montenegro for years, and it has been identified, maybe unfairly, as a playground for the rich.
Many Russians and Ukrainians have property or household connections, however there may be additionally a big group who arrived nearly by chance and really feel fully misplaced.
Nonprofit shelters are only for them touchdown (Protected Haven) was established.
Based mostly in Budva, the group offers a protected place for essentially the most determined arrivals and provides them a heat welcome inside two weeks as soon as they get again on their ft.
They obtained assist with paperwork, discovering jobs and flats, and Ukrainians have been allowed to return for 2 weeks as a “vacation” through the battle.
Valentina Ostroglyad, 60, got here right here from Zaporizhzhia a yr in the past together with her daughter. The regional capital has typically been topic to lethal Russian bombings.
“After I first arrived in Montenegro, I could not deal with the fireworks and even the roof collapse – I related it with these explosions,” she stated.
Now an artwork trainer, she enjoys her house nation: “At present I went to a spring and admired the mountains and sea. The individuals are very pleasant.”
The continued severity of the battle has resulted in a steady inflow of Ukrainians who can now not endure the ache and struggling at house.
Sasha Borkov, a driver from Kharkov, was separated from his spouse and 6 kids aged between 4 and 16 after they left Ukraine on the finish of August.
He was deported on the Polish border – he had beforehand been jailed in Hungary for transporting irregular migrants and was banned from coming into the EU. His household was allowed to proceed on to Germany and he was lastly allowed to land in Montenegro after touring round Europe for a number of days.
Visibly burdened and exhausted, he described how the battle finally drove him and his household from their house.
“If you see and listen to every single day that homes are destroyed and individuals are killed, it is indescribable,” he stated.
“Our condominium was not broken however the home windows have been damaged and [the bombs] Getting nearer.
Borkov stated that he had been contemplating the potential for touring to Montenegro because the starting of the battle: “[Pristaniste] Take me in, give me food and drinks, give me a spot to remain. I took a break and began in search of a job.
He has discovered a job and his household might be right here to hitch him. He’s making use of for non permanent safety and has been provided a spot at a Ukrainian refugee middle.
Elsewhere in Budva, Yuliya Matsuy has established a kids’s middle the place Ukrainians can take historical past, English, math and artwork lessons, or simply dance, sing and watch motion pictures.
Many have been traumatized by the battle, she stated: “They weren’t within the mountains or the ocean, they needed nothing.”
“However after they began interacting, their eyes have been smiling. The grins and feelings of these youngsters have been indescribable. It was solely then that we understood we have been doing the proper factor.
Most of it has now been resolved. The youthful kids realized Montenegrin and now attend native faculties, whereas the older kids proceed distance studying at Ukrainian faculties.
Each charities have Russian volunteers, which helps promote good relations between the Russian and Ukrainian communities.
Ruslan Sukhukhin/FbThere have been occasional frictions elsewhere in Europe. Originally of the battle, German assaults in opposition to Ukrainians and Russians elevated.
However up to now, Montenegro has accomplished little to take action.
There’s a feeling of tolerance right here, which Pristaniste and its volunteers play a task in selling.
Sasha Borkov distinguished between the Russians he met in Budva and people combating in Ukraine.
“Folks right here are attempting to assist, they don’t seem to be doing something in opposition to our nation, in opposition to us, in opposition to my youngsters, [unlike] Those that opened hearth on us and destroyed our homes claiming they have been liberating us.
Friendships between volunteers and residents, in addition to between residents, proceed to develop, with a Russian-Ukrainian couple dwelling in Pristaniste just lately getting married.
Empathy is a crucial issue. Kyiv journalist Olha Musafirova just lately spoke in Ukrainian about her work in Budva, bringing tears to Russians within the viewers who have been appalled by their nation’s actions.
For Ukrainian actress Katarina Sinchillo, the scenario amongst Russian expats is completely different, whereas these in Montenegro are “delicate”.
“I believe the individuals who dwell listed below are a considerably completely different neighborhood as a result of they’re intellectuals,” she stated. “Educated folks, they’ll’t dwell with out artwork.”
Joint Russian-Ukrainian initiatives are extraordinarily uncommon.
However Cincholo and her husband, actor Victor Koschel, established a theater right here with actors from all around the former Soviet Union.
Their performances, she stated, have been effectively attended: “The Russian folks, who’re serving to the progress of Ukraine, went to the performances with curiosity and pleasure.”
The atmosphere is right for such publicity, Koschel stated. “The countryside right here is like paradise. It takes you away from city life, gloom, depressive feelings, political propaganda, and so forth. You go to the seaside and all the pieces disappears.”
Additionally they collaborated with veteran Russian rock musician Mikhail Borzykin, who has witnessed dramatic adjustments within the Russian diaspora over the previous three years.
He stated “intense debates” about Putin have been frequent in Russian communities earlier than the battle, however the current inflow of anti-war immigrants has created a special environment.
“The overwhelming majority of younger individuals who come right here definitely perceive the horror of what’s occurring and due to this fact agree on the primary points,” he stated.
As for pro-Kremlin former members of Russia’s corrupt elite, he calls them “ Vatnaya Diaspora, They sit quietly within the property they bought years in the past in Montenegro.
“Battle doesn’t unfold overtly,” he stated.
Bolzkin is a part of a volleyball workforce made up of Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians, who he stated are “all like-minded.”
Regardless of the comparatively heat welcome, the long run for some immigrants stays unsure.
Strict citizenship legal guidelines imply lots of them will be unable to remain right here indefinitely.
If the battle ends, most Ukrainians appear desperate to return house, assuming they nonetheless have a house to go to.
“Presently our lives are below nice menace, but when the epidemic is over, in fact we are going to go house,” stated Sasha Borkov. “There isn’t any place like house.”
However most Russians say it would take greater than a regime collapse to persuade them to return completely.
Natalia Servits-Yermolina, from the northern metropolis of Petrozavodsk, stated she was in no hurry.
“My downside is that it is not Putin who persecutes me, however the little individuals who dwell in the identical metropolis as me,” she stated. “Putin could also be far-off from us, however those that observe his orders will stay, even when he dies quickly.”
Bolzkin stated he is additionally unlikely to return anytime quickly, as it might take many years for attitudes to vary.
“Germany wants 30 years [after the Nazis] When a brand new era comes alongside. I am afraid I will not final that lengthy.
Oleg Pshenichny contributed to this text
