The evening starts gently at Pub 53, the new cider bar in the center of Belgrade. Aleksei Novikov, the 42-year-old owner from St. Petersburg, moved to Serbia’s capital on March 4, 2022, less than ten days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine began. At the end of October, he opened this small troquet which quickly became one of the meeting places for the Russian community in Belgrade. “Most of the people fleeing Russia are dynamic young people with plans. They often left friends and family behind. Here, they find a bit of warmth, a form of community,” explains Aleksei Novikov.
Behind the counter, Arina Piskaryova, 30, works as a waitress, long enough to get a job in IT. She too found refuge in Belgrade. “I was afraid of war, also afraid of rampant crime because of businesses that were closing,” she testifies. Her mother has since considered her a “traitor” and the two no longer speak to each other. “With my father, I don’t broach the subject of the war, because I know what he thinks”, she sighs.
200,000 Russians joined Serbia
In Belgrade as in Novi Sad, the country’s second largest city, Russian-owned restaurants, cafes and private businesses have proliferated. In 2022, around 200,000 Russians, often opposed to the war, have easily reached Serbia without the need for a visa. But not without gnashing of teeth. Because pro-Ukrainian positions are very much in the minority within Serbian society. And the massive arrival of these exiles has pushed up the price of real estate.
Serbia is one of the few European countries that has not introduced sanctions against Moscow, and the only one where several large protests for the war have been staged. According to a poll by the Center for Security Policy, 30% of Serbs are in favor of supporting Moscow, and 50% plead for their country’s neutrality in the face of the war. For Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, Russia remains an essential partner, which opposes the recognition of Kosovo and can use its right of veto in the UN Security Council to defend Serbian positions.
Two Russians attacked in Belgrade
“Everywhere in Europe, a Russian has an interest in immediately displaying his opposition to the Putin regime. But in Serbia, it’s more delicate, it can make your interlocutor uncomfortable! », exclaims Andrei Mozorov, a 34-year-old Muscovite. At least two Russians were even victims of attacks in Belgrade. “A militant who carried the white, blue, white flag (symbol of the opposition to the war, editor’s note) was assaulted in front of our premises, reports the founder of the Russian Democratic Association, Peter Nikitin. Another was attacked while deleting graffiti “Death to Ukrainians”. » The attackers were, according to him, people close to the Serbian extreme right. “Millions of people can’t see past the propaganda. The situation here is worse than in Russia,” believes Peter Nikitin, a long-time translator familiar with Serbia.
“Twenty years ago, nationalism was marginal, he remembers. It is the best of Russian youth who come here, I hope that this wave of qualified people will help the development of Serbia. » As when a century ago, tens of thousands of Russians fleeing revolution and civil war found refuge in the then Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Several iconic buildings from that era still characterize the city of Belgrade.
Behind her counter, Arina Piskaryova remains confident: “Talking with a Putin supporter in Russia is like talking to a wall. Here, I have the impression that the Serbs listen to us and sometimes change their minds at the end of the conversation. »
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The Russians fled by the hundreds of thousands
700,000 Russians would have left Russia in the weeks following the announcement of the mobilization on September 21, 2022, according to the Russian edition of the magazine Forbes.
Several bordering countries reported massive arrivals in late September-early October 2022: 200,000 in Kazakhstan, 222,000 in Georgia, 12,000 in Mongolia, as well as 66,000 in the European Union, mainly via Finland and Estonia.
Departures were already recorded at the start of the war: 80,000 arrived in Georgia and Tajikistan in the first quarter of 2022, five times more than in the first quarter of 2021.
Many Russians are also installed in Turkey or Serbia.