Bruised with “shame” in front of the offensive launched by their country, they decided to help Ukrainians. Russians living in Bulgaria recount their moods and their mobilization to overcome the shortcomings of a destitute state in the face of the influx of refugees. When Ukrainian Elena Bondarenko fled her town of Zaporizhia in April, she never expected to be rescued by a Russian when she arrived in Burgas on the Black Sea coast.
“At first, it was a shock,” said AFP this 36-year-old former bank employee, who arrived with her two children and her mother. “And then it’s just the opposite. I am happy to see that not all Russians are aggressors”. His benefactor, who chose not to name himself for security reasons and refuses to talk politics, is hosting around 160 Ukrainians, some of whom had to leave nearby hotels at the start of the tourist season.
“I never hid the fact that I was Russian because they immediately saw that I had good intentions. Nationality doesn’t matter when you want to help people”, explains the energetic forty-something, piercing blue eyes and easy humor. In this former country of the communist bloc with strong historical ties with Moscow, the government has not been the most welcoming, causing the departure of many refugees, repelled by sometimes hostile remarks. are still there, according to official statistics. For me to put it this way,” she says, also on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals against her mother who remained in the country.