"They're Russians, After All; They Don't Know What Freedom Is."

• 11.08.2026, 16:21

Why are they going to Belarus?

Russians who move to our country don't realize that it isn't all that different from their homeland. This opinion was expressed by a Threads user going by the username welldrixwy.

“People who actually choose to emigrate from Russia to Belarus are stupid,” she writes. “You’re literally moving to a country where they’ll lock you up just as easily for a post, a comment, or something like that. Just for the sake of Instagram without a VPN and ‘Zara’?”

Many social media users are convinced that Russians who move to Belarus aren’t opponents of the war or Putin, but are simply looking for a more comfortable place to live. The website Charter97.org cites some comments:

— For half of them, that’s the only reason to leave. They’re not against the war; they’re just a little uncomfortable. Tomorrow in Belarus, they’ll shut down the internet just the same, and the great war in the swamps will begin.

— Now that the war is in its fifth year, people think it’s charming that those moving in 2026 are leaving without being opponents of the war. Apparently, emigrants from 2022 and earlier weren’t opposed to the annexation of Crimea and the occupation of Abkhazia.

— People like that aren’t leaving for freedom—they’re leaving for the good life.

— They’re Russians, after all; they don’t know what freedom is. Even if you gave them freedom, they wouldn’t know what to do with it and would feel uneasy.

— It’s the same kind of “vatniks” moving abroad; they love Putin. All they care about is getting their Wildberries underwear on time and accessing Instagram without a VPN.

— And they don’t post anything the authorities don’t like. They’re generally in favor of it, but the cart just didn’t move.