Owen Matthews Owen Matthews

The new White Russians: the fate of émigrés fleeing Putin

Credit: John Broadley 
issue 07 May 2022

It’s spring in Tbilisi. The fruit trees are in full blossom, the nights are warm. The Purpur restaurant near the Gudiashvili Gardens and Vinzavod No. 1 on Rustaveli Avenue – favourites of visiting Moscow hipsters and creatives for years – buzz with Russian conversation. ‘Everyone I know is here now,’ says Katya, 43, a museum curator visiting from Moscow. ‘It’s like Kvartira 44 [a Moscow café popular with the intelligentsia] on an outing.’

But instead of excitement, the mood among the thousands of Russians who have fled their country for the Georgian capital since the beginning of the war is one of anxiety and barely suppressed desperation. ‘People are putting on a brave face, talking about this plan and that project,’ reports Katya on her return home last week. ‘But nobody has any idea what they are going to do. Everyone’s feeling lost. Nervous. Ashamed for what’s happening in Ukraine.

Comments

Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.

Already a subscriber? Log in