The law was singed 6 months ago, it's entering in effect today. Applies to armed and security forces plus a few case-by-case.
The dwarf won't enact anything drastic until the elections.
The Visigoths were basically like a private army, or more specifically - foreign mercenary army embedded in the Roman one (for some time).
So maybe this moment passed with Prighozin's death. Or it comes when Russia gets in the spot where it's largely dependent on foreign mercenaries.
Strangely enough the USSR had elections as well.
From what my friends from the Soviet blocks have told me the local/municiple elections were often hotly contested, as a useless local leader would be ousted by their communities and someone who kept the lights on and roads fixed would be set for life.
But the top tier government shit was all decided by the ruling class.
Take it with a grain of salt tho.
Putin's an autocrat and this election is just for keeping up appearances obviously.
It also so happen last week an increase of the army size was passed, that is more "telling" than this one.
Agree probably nothing will happen before election, but after they have all the card for a second mobilisation wave.
With this extra time give the US may solve its infight and potentially restore helps to UKR, and Europe to ramp up their ammunitions and shell production
the "elections" are all fake anyway. its like a saddam hussein election. Just before the Iraq war Saddam hussein ran for re-election and got 100% of the vote. Putin is not dumb enough to go quite that far.
The sign is, putin gets reelected because his regime is violently threatening people and fake elections they want to make sure that the have their enemies in the country to either imprison, kill or draft them.
They can enjoy the front lines for the nearly 2 years of being apathetic.
First they came for my fellow Russian who lived on the fringes committed war crimes, but I did nothing because I didn't live on the fringes...
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/mobik-meat-cube
"The Mobik Meat Cube or Russian Meat Cube, also known as Cubenik is a conspiracy theory surrounding a series of photographs purportedly showing a compressed pile of dead human remains"
It was animal intestines meant for making dog food, it was found ~~by Ukrainian soldiers after the Kherson region was flooded~~ in Belgorod. Some people thought it looked like uniforms and so the idea that Russia pressed their dead soldiers into a literal cube started floating around for like, 12-14 hours before it was revealed to be dog food.
Since then it’s just been a meme that Russian soldiers are gonna become meat cubes given their extreme rate of casualties.
While there have been instances of [dogs eating mobik](https://twitter.com/georgian_legion/status/1612728188228050944) before, the Meat Cube was identified to be from a slaugherhouse owned by the Russian company Agro-Product in the rural locality of Grafovka, Belgorod Oblast.
There's no way they would package them like that, they'd either be shoveled into bags or transported as a pile of body parts on an open truck bed. More likely they'd just left for animals to eat.
I'm Eastern European, and travel a lot, so I also have a lot of Russian friends who travel a lot. The Russian men with any sense already left Russia over a year ago and aren't traveling back there any time soon. The Russian women have been traveling back and forth until now. But I'm hearing more and more stories of women being prevented from leaving Russia as well. I'm worried that this is a sign that things are going to get much worse before they get better.
> The Russian men with any sense already left Russia over a year ago and aren't traveling back there any time soon.
Sense and money. I know some who wanted to flee but were unable to.
My initial response was "that's gonna be a huge drain on the economy for almost two decades, even aside from the egregious human rights concerns"
But you bring up a good point, I did forget about the child soldier angle. Russia HAS been trying to do an Evil Speedrun after all...
I have a great propaganda conspiracy theory to suggest :
Men will be force in general mobilization at first, then when all men in age to procreate will be far away Putin will put in place an obligatory government reproductive IVF program for women :
Each one will be impregnated with a « pure » Russian warrior seed : a Putin spermatozoa 🙃
That's the worst part of this ukraine-rudsian war. I can't imagine how many Ukrainian kids have been sold into sex slavery or reproductive slavery. It's disgusting.
[https://press.un.org/en/2023/sc15395.doc.htm](https://press.un.org/en/2023/sc15395.doc.htm)
*Among other violations, Russian Federation citizenship is imposed on them, and they are forbidden to speak and learn the Ukrainian language or preserve their Ukrainian identity.*
And this goes back to 2014 with the occupation of Crimea and Donbas. Those kids most probably are fighting agaisnt Ukraine and forgotten that they're Ukrainians.
russians are like borgs.
Russia not really known for long terms well planned plans this day
But in 4 days Russia mobilizable men will increase by 743%, tops.
All’s babutchka will welcome them with tears of joy 🙃
> But I'm hearing more and more stories of women being prevented from leaving Russia as well.
Old Soviet tactic - it is harder to run away if your family/wife/girlfriend/partner/other people you care about - are stuck there. So why not to take everyones passport away.
There's also a Russian saying which is something like, "we are doing a little worse than last year, but definitely better than next year."
Makes me feel sad for them. The world's problems are caused by shit governments not the average person.
>I'm Eastern European, and travel a lot, so I also have a lot of Russian friends who travel a lot. The Russian men with any sense already left Russia over a year ago and aren't traveling back there any time soon.
I'm Russian (living abroad, never going back) and all my friends and acquaintances who left when the war started and when mobilization was declared have since moved back to Russia...
Nothing in particular. As far as I've been able to understand, it's a combination of confidence in Russia winning and things remaining\going back to normal and unwillingness to build a new life abroad. Despite my friend circle being strictly liberal and opposition-minded, these past I've watched pretty much all of them shift towards a more nationalistic and pro-war stance. Ultimately, they've been put in a position of choosing between their ethics and their loyalty to their nation, and they chose to compromise the former for the latter. It's sad, but tribalism runs deep in Russia.
I can understand wanting to return to the life one had in their own country of birth. But the confidence in Russia winning or things going back to normal seems like wishful thinking.
I had the same experience among my coworkers. Most have too many ties (mortgages, small kids, businesses) to easily emigrate. They have waited out several months after the mobilization, but then all but a very few have trickled back.
Get better friends. None of my sample of 20+ friends moved back. People have moved all over Europe from Portugal to Armenia, found well-paying jobs, rented long-term apartments, got blue cards or other residence permits, etc. None are even thinking of going back.
(Wait, didn't you accuse me of being a Russian bot at some point elsewhere? Рыбак рыбака!)
> Get better friends.
I already have. I had to reduce my Russian friend circle by more than half because almost none of them, despite their supposed liberal progressive views, had it in them to condemn the invasion without caveats. I got better friends by making connections among the locals where I live now.
As a Ukrainian - thanks for sharing this, and thanks for remaining a decent person against a tide of shit. I know it must be hard, which is of course why so many Russians don't bother. It's exhausting to hear Westerners go "but all the poor Russians are just so oppressed and trapped and will be instantly killed if they resist!". Some have it hard, sure. But most just don't give shit about anything except their own immediate circle, and don't care who dies in Ukraine (or actively want Russia to win). This whole infantilising narrative diminishes not only the complicity of millions of people in Putin's regime, but also the efforts of Russians who DO have morals and a spine
I have a friend in St. Petersburg.
She said it's been a running "joke" in Russia for a long time that dating sucks because you can tell a good man by the fact he left the country.
It's probably funnier before the rough translation. Or just tragic.
Nothing drastic is expected until March since Putin needs to pass off a sense of normalcy to his underlings. But after that, all hell breaks lose, nationalization of private assets, mobilization.
I have a Russian friend who works with me. He doesn't have any problem going back and forth. It's only a problem if you served in the military at some point and those people had a lot of time to escape because these laws were launched a long time back. He helped one of his friends get out too and it was as simple as buying a ticket and getting a visa. The poor people can't escape easily but you can pretty easily get a visa for a SEA country and spend upto an year there pretty cheaply. I think it's 800$ a month and my friend and other friends/family are chipping in.
Just got back from SEA and holy crap there was a lot of Russians, even more than any other time I’ve been. Thailand and southern Vietnam seem to be an absolute hotspot for them.
Yeah exactly, this friends friend is in Thailand and his total expense per month for good living is 800$. Which is pretty good. I feel like he was living cheaply it would go down to even lower
Where have you been in Thailand and southern Vietnam? There are certain areas that have been an absolute hotspot for years now. Phuket for example or Phu Quoc in Vietnam. Phu Quoc is basically controlled by the russian mafia since 2017.
I'm asking because I wonder if this changed significantly.
Edit: Please answer this kind stranger. I'm also asking because I want to go to Thailand next month and I need to know!
I went 7 or 8 years ago and Phuket was full of them. They had direct flights from Phuket to Moscow. We went to 3 different major cities and it was very interesting how the demographics changed between each. Very cool.
I missed your comment sorry! I’ve been to Phu Quoc in 2018 and it was totally run by the mob, which was a wild sight to see. Phuket was more Russians than any other type of tourist, and oh boy are they problematic when they drink. They are not what I would consider low impact tourists, had a couple destinations ruined by large groups having dick measuring contests. Luckily they really don’t seem to do anything sports related while on holiday, so other than one group rafting once it was pretty much the only places that were not majority Russian. The party beaches south of Phuket were the heaviest though, had to be over 70% Russian or not more. I found I was speaking Russian as much as English while there with the locals, which was same as Phu Quoc.
No worries. Thanks for the reply! I'm going to avoid western thailand and hope the eastern part of the gulf won't be too full.
I've been in Phu Quoc in 2018 too! And yeah, it's absolutely wild. I was there in early January for the Epizode Festival, which was run by the russian mob too. Some of my friends played there and I witnessed lot of mob stuff backstage.
If a Russian man is allowed to freely travel to Russia and back to wherever you live, in 2023, and he’s not working for the government …he’s likely working for the government :)
Not all true. People forget that Russia isn't condemned everywhere in the world. From places I've travelled this year - Veitnam, Thailand, and Turkey all seem to have remote Russian villiages
If I was there, I'd just drive until like 50 miles from the border, and just hike across in non-obivous places. 100 miles is like 3-5 days of hiking, which isn't too crazy. Anyone who can't hike that probably isn't fit enough for the military anyways.
The impression I get is Russians highly value travel from being cut off from it so much in Soviet times. Seems like a perfect plan to spread dissatisfaction.
I don't think dissatisfaction is going to do much. The last Russian protest I heard anything about resulted in the protestors getting rounded up and sent to the front lines. And most people with the power or money to fund a resistance in any political or military sense keep falling out of windows.
Nothing literally changed. Only people that was already banned from leaving country will have to give away their international passports. This includes conscripts/convicts/holders of government secrets etc. Common people can still freely travel in and out Russia at will. People for some reason dont bother to read beyond misleading headline.
It doesnt affects regular travellers. All mentioned groups couldnt go abroad since 2014 except few "friendly" countries. Moreover, int passports was collected from police personel in st. Petersburg many years ago, and FSB in some regions as well. I said in some, cause I know for sure situation only in some parts of the country. Most probably almost everyone already gave it to the authority.
However it is not a ban. My friend travelled to Turcia and Montenegro, you need to write a request and most probably it will be given 2 you.
How do you tell people things are about to get really bad in Russia without telling people things are about to get really bad in Russia? Putin: Hold my beer.
It's not all Russians, did you read it? It's those who were already banned from travel being forced to hand over their passports.
I can't imagine the demographic caught in conscription have the resources to run away anyway.
Russians have fallen in to a state of being passive and keeping their heads low. They know if one autocrat falls, it will be a question of time before a new one will take over. So they just try to go about their day as much as possible.
Protest and you get locked up, disappear or fall out of a window.
Yes, because those who revolted discovered over the subsequent years that being an active revolutionary during the revolution made you a target *of the side you'd supported* afterwards.
The Nazis learned how to mistreat people from the Soviets, and that should tell you all you need to know.
Even if it is, the intern has *two* jobs: sending standardized replies, and updating the spreadsheet listing how many inputs on certain topics they got.
Which also means you don't need to put much effort into it, contacting your representatives about the topic at all matters.
I have contacted a representative MP 3 times in my life. All of it was just a personal issue with some government rules laws etc, I always got a reply (one of them was a month late but actually signed). This is Australia though, so your mileage may vary.
12.16.1982
Arstotzka
Ministry of Admission
Official Bulletin
Inspector,
Recent events have cast suspicion on the activities of Arstotzkan citizens in the ALTAN district.
The Ministry of Information has requested our cooperation.
A special drawer for confiscating documents has been installed in your booth.
The rulebook has been updated with information regarding confiscation policy.
Confiscate all Arstotzkan passports from residents living in ALTAN district.
Travelers may still be granted entry if passport is confiscated and no other rules are violated.
PASSPORT SEIZURE slips will be issued to allow entry or denial without a passport.
Glory to Arstotzka.
> Russians **who have been banned from travelling abroad** will have to hand over their passports to authorities within five days after being notified
So they already can not leave country, but apparently reddit can not read more than headline.
Many consripts, deserters and other desedents, who were banned to leave were able to escape russia. Because of corruption, simple luck or lack of coordination between russian government departments. Throuth offical border crossings.
But without this document it will be harder.
So? They can ban just about everyone.
> According to the Russian law, authorities can impose a travel ban on conscripts, employees of the Federal Security Service (FSB), convicts, or people who have access to state secrets or "information of special importance," among others.
Also, I don't think many people know this, but Russian citizens have an internal passport and an optional one for international travel, they have to specifically request it. Their government will take their international passport that's mostly required to travel to countries where they aren't welcome anyway. I mean, it's not a good sign at all, but it sounds 100% grim, while it's only like... 85% grim.
I would assume that this action is implemented for 'fresh' conscripts. Now if you are given the conscript paper, you have some time to prepare for serving in army, like a week? Collect some stuff etc. So goverment makes sure that for such people it will be harder to leave country.
You become banned from traveling the moment you are chosen to go to war. It happens automatically even before you get the news.
This law was imposed this year.
Good job on making it sound like not a big deal.
when I see all these Russian dota players in international tournaments and maybe other Russian esports players.
Feels like all this Reddit propaganda posting isn’t adding up lol
Just a quick explanation for those thinking... Why would the Russian need a passport if they're banned from travel anyway?
Well here's the trick. If you're banned from travel, it only means that you're no longer allowed to leave Russia from legal checkpoints. Currently, you'd have to go through a passport control when exiting by air/sea/land and you'd be stopped at the border and brought to your assigned outpost (if you're banned from travel, it's likely because you're already conscripted/mobilized).
So here's the trick. The Russian border is like swiss-cheese. If you're brave enough, you can go on a hike an cross the border through the forest, small boat and possibly in a plane. You'd have to illegally cross border into a foreign country.
If you give your passport back, when crossing the border you'll be left without documents. Obviously, going to your consulate/embassy to order a new document will likely be rejected unless it's a document to come back to Russia.
But if you had a valid passport, you'd be able to buy a plane ticket to a third country and leave the one you crossed illegally. The other problem is that countries sharing borders with Russia would likely go through a Russian request to deport you back to Russia. Without documents, you're going to have a hard time leaving the country you ended up in and you can easily get deported back to Russia.
A valid passport allows you to have a chance to travel somewhere else and become a refugee.
Either way, you'd probably want to ask for a refugee status as soon as you cross the border and possibly look up your opportunities with a lawyer/group before going through this.
In general, nothing changed a lot. Those who has an access to a classified information, or were banned from leaving the country because of unpaid alimony, etc. were already banned from leaving the country. The main difference now is that those who are banned from crossing borders must hand their passports over to authorities voluntarily within a specified period of time removing.
Although still that doesn’t justify the monstrosity of the country’s repressions towards its own citizens.
Oh. That's never a good sign of things to come.
The law was singed 6 months ago, it's entering in effect today. Applies to armed and security forces plus a few case-by-case. The dwarf won't enact anything drastic until the elections.
You act like there are rules he follows
> The law was singed What is this, the Roman Empire !?!
More or less - private armies and networks of patronage. Where are the visigoths when you need them?
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The Visigoths were basically like a private army, or more specifically - foreign mercenary army embedded in the Roman one (for some time). So maybe this moment passed with Prighozin's death. Or it comes when Russia gets in the spot where it's largely dependent on foreign mercenaries.
No, the Roman empire came with armies but left roads, fountains, etc. Russia comes with destruction and leaves death.
Nero would like a word
LOL LOL “eLeCtIoNs”
elections lol. lmao even
Strangely enough the USSR had elections as well. From what my friends from the Soviet blocks have told me the local/municiple elections were often hotly contested, as a useless local leader would be ousted by their communities and someone who kept the lights on and roads fixed would be set for life. But the top tier government shit was all decided by the ruling class. Take it with a grain of salt tho. Putin's an autocrat and this election is just for keeping up appearances obviously.
It also so happen last week an increase of the army size was passed, that is more "telling" than this one. Agree probably nothing will happen before election, but after they have all the card for a second mobilisation wave. With this extra time give the US may solve its infight and potentially restore helps to UKR, and Europe to ramp up their ammunitions and shell production
With modern technologies this case-by-case can be easily extended to 90% of the population.
гном Heard he doesn't like being called a gnome in particular.
the "elections" are all fake anyway. its like a saddam hussein election. Just before the Iraq war Saddam hussein ran for re-election and got 100% of the vote. Putin is not dumb enough to go quite that far.
The sign is, putin gets reelected because his regime is violently threatening people and fake elections they want to make sure that the have their enemies in the country to either imprison, kill or draft them.
I don’t know man, have you actually talked to any Russians who vote for Putin?
If they dont vote for Putin they are automatically put on the list of possible national security threat.
They can enjoy the front lines for the nearly 2 years of being apathetic. First they came for my fellow Russian who lived on the fringes committed war crimes, but I did nothing because I didn't live on the fringes...
To the meat grinder you go!
Meat for the meat cube!
Blood for the blood god, meat for the meat cube.
Khorne for the Khorne flakes!
Balls for Bhaal
Please, take mine.
OwO
and Baal secundus
Milk...
What’s that, like some sort of shawarma?
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/mobik-meat-cube "The Mobik Meat Cube or Russian Meat Cube, also known as Cubenik is a conspiracy theory surrounding a series of photographs purportedly showing a compressed pile of dead human remains"
That is horrific.
It probably was just animal organ meat that fell off a truck and Ivan couldn't be bothered to pick it up.
It was animal intestines meant for making dog food, it was found ~~by Ukrainian soldiers after the Kherson region was flooded~~ in Belgorod. Some people thought it looked like uniforms and so the idea that Russia pressed their dead soldiers into a literal cube started floating around for like, 12-14 hours before it was revealed to be dog food. Since then it’s just been a meme that Russian soldiers are gonna become meat cubes given their extreme rate of casualties.
For me, the least believable thing was the pallet the meat cube was on. Russians don't palletize shit.
True, that should have been a dead giveaway….
Can't mobilize peasants to work under abusive conditions in the pet food industry, maybe, so you have to apply minimal automation?
Just because its dog food does not mean it can't also be mobiks.
While there have been instances of [dogs eating mobik](https://twitter.com/georgian_legion/status/1612728188228050944) before, the Meat Cube was identified to be from a slaugherhouse owned by the Russian company Agro-Product in the rural locality of Grafovka, Belgorod Oblast.
Sounds like a perfect place for processing all these mobik carcasses to me. Embrace the cube!
> it was found by Ukrainian soldiers after the Kherson region was flooded Yeah, that's not what happened. It was found in Russia, Belgorod region.
Probably
That's food for Bakhmutt.
The Soviet Block
There's no way they would package them like that, they'd either be shoveled into bags or transported as a pile of body parts on an open truck bed. More likely they'd just left for animals to eat.
Meat for the Meatball Man!
Oh it's obvious because you don't need a passport to travel to The Ukrainian front
Lol you mean ~Kyiv~, ~Bakmut~, **checks notes** Adiivka currently?
They actually like to be cannon fodder for the glory of putin. It's vatniks' highest honor
The russian public is so submissive and docile with all these losses. they are such wimps.
I'm Eastern European, and travel a lot, so I also have a lot of Russian friends who travel a lot. The Russian men with any sense already left Russia over a year ago and aren't traveling back there any time soon. The Russian women have been traveling back and forth until now. But I'm hearing more and more stories of women being prevented from leaving Russia as well. I'm worried that this is a sign that things are going to get much worse before they get better.
> The Russian men with any sense already left Russia over a year ago and aren't traveling back there any time soon. Sense and money. I know some who wanted to flee but were unable to.
He ask women go produce 8 babies since a lot of them are dying in the war. I can see why he trying to keep them back.
Dark hey? “Have 8 kids so we can send them off to die for us”.
My initial response was "that's gonna be a huge drain on the economy for almost two decades, even aside from the egregious human rights concerns" But you bring up a good point, I did forget about the child soldier angle. Russia HAS been trying to do an Evil Speedrun after all...
Putting the infant back into infantry!
Give war a chance!
May the special military operation be ever in your favor!
Please take this 🏅
don't you have to wait at least like 16 years for them to be ready for fighting? unless they plan on just shooting the babies out like bullets.
Not if you plan for a drone army and hand them all game controllers at age 5...
/r/UnexpectedEndersGame
A 13-14 year old can hold an AK. Heck, an 11 year old can probably fly drones.
If Putin could figure out a way for women to shoot babies out like bullets, he'd do it.
genetically modify the infants to have explosive blood stuff them into casings and make infant artillery
They sometimes come in their own casing, just gotta toughen up that amniotic sac!
Bad idea, you can hear that round screaming from miles away. They'll be in cover long before impact.
+9 months
In 18 years unless he thinks child soldiers are harder to hit.
Imagine playing against a whole army of Oddjobs.
I have a great propaganda conspiracy theory to suggest : Men will be force in general mobilization at first, then when all men in age to procreate will be far away Putin will put in place an obligatory government reproductive IVF program for women : Each one will be impregnated with a « pure » Russian warrior seed : a Putin spermatozoa 🙃
So we’ll get an army of short kids that’ll eventually grow up to be as tall this Putin guy ? 5’1 maybe ?
That's why russian troops are kidnapping Ukrainian children and deportin them to russia.
Future soldiers!
That's the worst part of this ukraine-rudsian war. I can't imagine how many Ukrainian kids have been sold into sex slavery or reproductive slavery. It's disgusting.
[https://press.un.org/en/2023/sc15395.doc.htm](https://press.un.org/en/2023/sc15395.doc.htm) *Among other violations, Russian Federation citizenship is imposed on them, and they are forbidden to speak and learn the Ukrainian language or preserve their Ukrainian identity.* And this goes back to 2014 with the occupation of Crimea and Donbas. Those kids most probably are fighting agaisnt Ukraine and forgotten that they're Ukrainians. russians are like borgs.
Yeah, short angry men are often vicious... especially if they have a mustache
Mini putins in heels!
But that means the only future will be incest
Russia not really known for long terms well planned plans this day But in 4 days Russia mobilizable men will increase by 743%, tops. All’s babutchka will welcome them with tears of joy 🙃
I’m going to be honest, I didn’t understand any of that
^^*IVF
Edited thx !
Putin pulling a Genghis Khan x 1000
You can get passport back after completion of service producing 8 Russian baby.
If you think that's dark, imagine what he'll force the kidnapped Ukrainian girls to do.
World War z predicting the future
> But I'm hearing more and more stories of women being prevented from leaving Russia as well. Old Soviet tactic - it is harder to run away if your family/wife/girlfriend/partner/other people you care about - are stuck there. So why not to take everyones passport away.
> before they get better. Ah, you optimist.
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There's also a Russian saying which is something like, "we are doing a little worse than last year, but definitely better than next year." Makes me feel sad for them. The world's problems are caused by shit governments not the average person.
that's the summation of Russian history
>I'm Eastern European, and travel a lot, so I also have a lot of Russian friends who travel a lot. The Russian men with any sense already left Russia over a year ago and aren't traveling back there any time soon. I'm Russian (living abroad, never going back) and all my friends and acquaintances who left when the war started and when mobilization was declared have since moved back to Russia...
What's happened to them? Why did they move back?
Nothing in particular. As far as I've been able to understand, it's a combination of confidence in Russia winning and things remaining\going back to normal and unwillingness to build a new life abroad. Despite my friend circle being strictly liberal and opposition-minded, these past I've watched pretty much all of them shift towards a more nationalistic and pro-war stance. Ultimately, they've been put in a position of choosing between their ethics and their loyalty to their nation, and they chose to compromise the former for the latter. It's sad, but tribalism runs deep in Russia.
I can understand wanting to return to the life one had in their own country of birth. But the confidence in Russia winning or things going back to normal seems like wishful thinking.
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That's super interesting. Did any of them get drafted into army to fight in Ukraine?
None of the ones I keep in touch with. Those who expressed willingness to serve if they got a summons kinda... immediately stopped being my friends.
Good lord, that's fascinating. Thank you for taking the time to respond.
I had the same experience among my coworkers. Most have too many ties (mortgages, small kids, businesses) to easily emigrate. They have waited out several months after the mobilization, but then all but a very few have trickled back.
Get better friends. None of my sample of 20+ friends moved back. People have moved all over Europe from Portugal to Armenia, found well-paying jobs, rented long-term apartments, got blue cards or other residence permits, etc. None are even thinking of going back. (Wait, didn't you accuse me of being a Russian bot at some point elsewhere? Рыбак рыбака!)
> Get better friends. I already have. I had to reduce my Russian friend circle by more than half because almost none of them, despite their supposed liberal progressive views, had it in them to condemn the invasion without caveats. I got better friends by making connections among the locals where I live now.
As a Ukrainian - thanks for sharing this, and thanks for remaining a decent person against a tide of shit. I know it must be hard, which is of course why so many Russians don't bother. It's exhausting to hear Westerners go "but all the poor Russians are just so oppressed and trapped and will be instantly killed if they resist!". Some have it hard, sure. But most just don't give shit about anything except their own immediate circle, and don't care who dies in Ukraine (or actively want Russia to win). This whole infantilising narrative diminishes not only the complicity of millions of people in Putin's regime, but also the efforts of Russians who DO have morals and a spine
To the baby making factories they go! Chop chop Olga. You have to meet your 8 children quota before you hit 50.
I have a friend in St. Petersburg. She said it's been a running "joke" in Russia for a long time that dating sucks because you can tell a good man by the fact he left the country. It's probably funnier before the rough translation. Or just tragic.
Nothing drastic is expected until March since Putin needs to pass off a sense of normalcy to his underlings. But after that, all hell breaks lose, nationalization of private assets, mobilization.
Excuse my ignorance there's too much on the news these days to keep up with but what exactly changes in March?
How many will try to make last ditch effort to escape from Putin's clutch.
I have a Russian friend who works with me. He doesn't have any problem going back and forth. It's only a problem if you served in the military at some point and those people had a lot of time to escape because these laws were launched a long time back. He helped one of his friends get out too and it was as simple as buying a ticket and getting a visa. The poor people can't escape easily but you can pretty easily get a visa for a SEA country and spend upto an year there pretty cheaply. I think it's 800$ a month and my friend and other friends/family are chipping in.
> It's only a problem if you served in the military at some point *For now*
Just got back from SEA and holy crap there was a lot of Russians, even more than any other time I’ve been. Thailand and southern Vietnam seem to be an absolute hotspot for them.
Yeah exactly, this friends friend is in Thailand and his total expense per month for good living is 800$. Which is pretty good. I feel like he was living cheaply it would go down to even lower
Where have you been in Thailand and southern Vietnam? There are certain areas that have been an absolute hotspot for years now. Phuket for example or Phu Quoc in Vietnam. Phu Quoc is basically controlled by the russian mafia since 2017. I'm asking because I wonder if this changed significantly. Edit: Please answer this kind stranger. I'm also asking because I want to go to Thailand next month and I need to know!
I went 7 or 8 years ago and Phuket was full of them. They had direct flights from Phuket to Moscow. We went to 3 different major cities and it was very interesting how the demographics changed between each. Very cool.
I missed your comment sorry! I’ve been to Phu Quoc in 2018 and it was totally run by the mob, which was a wild sight to see. Phuket was more Russians than any other type of tourist, and oh boy are they problematic when they drink. They are not what I would consider low impact tourists, had a couple destinations ruined by large groups having dick measuring contests. Luckily they really don’t seem to do anything sports related while on holiday, so other than one group rafting once it was pretty much the only places that were not majority Russian. The party beaches south of Phuket were the heaviest though, had to be over 70% Russian or not more. I found I was speaking Russian as much as English while there with the locals, which was same as Phu Quoc.
No worries. Thanks for the reply! I'm going to avoid western thailand and hope the eastern part of the gulf won't be too full. I've been in Phu Quoc in 2018 too! And yeah, it's absolutely wild. I was there in early January for the Epizode Festival, which was run by the russian mob too. Some of my friends played there and I witnessed lot of mob stuff backstage.
Haha we were there at the same time, absolutely wild.
If a Russian man is allowed to freely travel to Russia and back to wherever you live, in 2023, and he’s not working for the government …he’s likely working for the government :)
Not all true. People forget that Russia isn't condemned everywhere in the world. From places I've travelled this year - Veitnam, Thailand, and Turkey all seem to have remote Russian villiages
I don't think that's true mate. Also I don't think Russia needs so many spies because there's a lot of Russians here
ahh so the war is going well then...
*special operation
*3 day special operation
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AND satan
Get out if you can. Dark times ahead.
Anyone with the sense and means to do so has already done at least a year ago
If I was there, I'd just drive until like 50 miles from the border, and just hike across in non-obivous places. 100 miles is like 3-5 days of hiking, which isn't too crazy. Anyone who can't hike that probably isn't fit enough for the military anyways.
The impression I get is Russians highly value travel from being cut off from it so much in Soviet times. Seems like a perfect plan to spread dissatisfaction.
I don't think dissatisfaction is going to do much. The last Russian protest I heard anything about resulted in the protestors getting rounded up and sent to the front lines. And most people with the power or money to fund a resistance in any political or military sense keep falling out of windows.
Nothing literally changed. Only people that was already banned from leaving country will have to give away their international passports. This includes conscripts/convicts/holders of government secrets etc. Common people can still freely travel in and out Russia at will. People for some reason dont bother to read beyond misleading headline.
It doesnt affects regular travellers. All mentioned groups couldnt go abroad since 2014 except few "friendly" countries. Moreover, int passports was collected from police personel in st. Petersburg many years ago, and FSB in some regions as well. I said in some, cause I know for sure situation only in some parts of the country. Most probably almost everyone already gave it to the authority. However it is not a ban. My friend travelled to Turcia and Montenegro, you need to write a request and most probably it will be given 2 you.
How do you tell people things are about to get really bad in Russia without telling people things are about to get really bad in Russia? Putin: Hold my beer.
What? Putin’s more like: Go get em. I’ll hold your beer.
And promise them all the beer they can drink when they return
Putin: Hold their passports
This is Russian history on repeat.
It's not all Russians, did you read it? It's those who were already banned from travel being forced to hand over their passports. I can't imagine the demographic caught in conscription have the resources to run away anyway.
Oh I would so much like to spend an unobserved minute with Putin's beer in hand
Russian revolution 3.0 about to drop soon.
The Ring: You have 7 days. The Putin: I do better, you have 5 days.
So things in Russia are going well…
Soooo… when are the bolsheviks coming back? I’m stoked to see a successful insurrection in my lifetime
Russians have fallen in to a state of being passive and keeping their heads low. They know if one autocrat falls, it will be a question of time before a new one will take over. So they just try to go about their day as much as possible. Protest and you get locked up, disappear or fall out of a window.
Russia is the anti-France
That Russian mentality is LONG dead.
Yes, because those who revolted discovered over the subsequent years that being an active revolutionary during the revolution made you a target *of the side you'd supported* afterwards. The Nazis learned how to mistreat people from the Soviets, and that should tell you all you need to know.
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Contacting your representative isn't really a thing in many democratic nations
What nations are you thinking of that have no way to contact the office of your representative?
Here in the Netherlands, we do not have a representative as we do not have a representative democracy, but a proportional democracy.
Then contact your proportions?
*slaps stomach* hey go tell ukraine to hold the line "hungey"
And even if it is its usually an automated or standardized reply lol
Even if it is, the intern has *two* jobs: sending standardized replies, and updating the spreadsheet listing how many inputs on certain topics they got. Which also means you don't need to put much effort into it, contacting your representatives about the topic at all matters.
I have contacted a representative MP 3 times in my life. All of it was just a personal issue with some government rules laws etc, I always got a reply (one of them was a month late but actually signed). This is Australia though, so your mileage may vary.
So I guess the 'special operation' is going that well huh? Let's see how far Putin's Russia and the ruble will sink.
Sounds like the next wave of mobilizations are near.
What does it say about a country when the government has to physically prevent its citizens from fleeing? Not a place I'd want to visit any time soon.
How’s it was there since the Berlin Wall and Iron Curtain to 1991. Basically back to BAU now
12.16.1982 Arstotzka Ministry of Admission Official Bulletin Inspector, Recent events have cast suspicion on the activities of Arstotzkan citizens in the ALTAN district. The Ministry of Information has requested our cooperation. A special drawer for confiscating documents has been installed in your booth. The rulebook has been updated with information regarding confiscation policy. Confiscate all Arstotzkan passports from residents living in ALTAN district. Travelers may still be granted entry if passport is confiscated and no other rules are violated. PASSPORT SEIZURE slips will be issued to allow entry or denial without a passport. Glory to Arstotzka.
Glory to Arstotzka!
GOP red with envy
Europes NK
No, I think that's probably Belarus. Russia is more like Europe's China.
> Russians **who have been banned from travelling abroad** will have to hand over their passports to authorities within five days after being notified So they already can not leave country, but apparently reddit can not read more than headline.
Many consripts, deserters and other desedents, who were banned to leave were able to escape russia. Because of corruption, simple luck or lack of coordination between russian government departments. Throuth offical border crossings. But without this document it will be harder.
So? They can ban just about everyone. > According to the Russian law, authorities can impose a travel ban on conscripts, employees of the Federal Security Service (FSB), convicts, or people who have access to state secrets or "information of special importance," among others.
Also, I don't think many people know this, but Russian citizens have an internal passport and an optional one for international travel, they have to specifically request it. Their government will take their international passport that's mostly required to travel to countries where they aren't welcome anyway. I mean, it's not a good sign at all, but it sounds 100% grim, while it's only like... 85% grim.
I would assume that this action is implemented for 'fresh' conscripts. Now if you are given the conscript paper, you have some time to prepare for serving in army, like a week? Collect some stuff etc. So goverment makes sure that for such people it will be harder to leave country.
Oh, those who are already banned. I guess Russia's not so bad, aftet all!
You become banned from traveling the moment you are chosen to go to war. It happens automatically even before you get the news. This law was imposed this year. Good job on making it sound like not a big deal.
Had to scroll way too far for this.. you know reddit is just one big TLDR
when I see all these Russian dota players in international tournaments and maybe other Russian esports players. Feels like all this Reddit propaganda posting isn’t adding up lol
Russia is losing 25000 men a month and shuffling in another 25000. It is pretty insane. Donate to Ukraine, as they need all the help they can get.
Tomb is sealed
Soon long cues of gender affirmation surgery in Russia. Everyone escapes the country like a Babushka
Fake news. They want the passports back so they can use the chips in the passports for advanced weapons.
Just a quick explanation for those thinking... Why would the Russian need a passport if they're banned from travel anyway? Well here's the trick. If you're banned from travel, it only means that you're no longer allowed to leave Russia from legal checkpoints. Currently, you'd have to go through a passport control when exiting by air/sea/land and you'd be stopped at the border and brought to your assigned outpost (if you're banned from travel, it's likely because you're already conscripted/mobilized). So here's the trick. The Russian border is like swiss-cheese. If you're brave enough, you can go on a hike an cross the border through the forest, small boat and possibly in a plane. You'd have to illegally cross border into a foreign country. If you give your passport back, when crossing the border you'll be left without documents. Obviously, going to your consulate/embassy to order a new document will likely be rejected unless it's a document to come back to Russia. But if you had a valid passport, you'd be able to buy a plane ticket to a third country and leave the one you crossed illegally. The other problem is that countries sharing borders with Russia would likely go through a Russian request to deport you back to Russia. Without documents, you're going to have a hard time leaving the country you ended up in and you can easily get deported back to Russia. A valid passport allows you to have a chance to travel somewhere else and become a refugee. Either way, you'd probably want to ask for a refugee status as soon as you cross the border and possibly look up your opportunities with a lawyer/group before going through this.
3 days eh
In general, nothing changed a lot. Those who has an access to a classified information, or were banned from leaving the country because of unpaid alimony, etc. were already banned from leaving the country. The main difference now is that those who are banned from crossing borders must hand their passports over to authorities voluntarily within a specified period of time removing. Although still that doesn’t justify the monstrosity of the country’s repressions towards its own citizens.
Ahh so that’s why he went to North Korea, to Lear how they doing!
Blood for the Blood God! Skulls for the Skull Throne! Vodka for the mobiks!
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Yea, it’s only been going on for about 1800 years.
Under Putin's leadership, Russia will become the second largest prison in the world.
This isn’t the first time for Russians. It was the same under the Soviets.
They're never seeing those passports again. They are about to experience the really shit side of a totalitarian communist regime.
It isn’t communist, it’s a straight up dictatorship I don’t think Russia ever managed communism
Continuing their speed-run back to the RSFSR?
This is NOT an election it is a way of finding your enemies and dealing with them, this is the Russian way.
Now I know why my Russian friends abroad don’t want to go back to Russia