From our special correspondent in Tbilisi – After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, an estimated 100,000 Russians found refuge in the neighbouring Caucasus republic of Georgia. Many continue to work in the IT services sector for Russian firms. Others have opened their own businesses. Most express their solidarity with the thousands of Georgians demonstrating against the law on "foreign influence" which was approved by Georgia's parliament on Tuesday.
We'll call her Sofia. We met the 26-year-old woman, who prefers to remain anonymous, in a café in Tbilisi's trendy Vera district, a favourite haunt of the Georgian capital's young Russian community.
In perfect English, she tells how she "left Saint Petersburg – the most beautiful city in the world – almost two years ago, in the autumn of 2022. But in my mind, I'm still living in Russia.”
Her boyfriend, an IT specialist, works remotely for clients in Russia. Sofia gives English lessons and offers online help to Ukrainian refugees who have settled in the United States or Britain and wish to improve their English or write a CV.
She leads a life of exile, in short, surrounded by Russian friends who, like her, have fled Vladimir Putin's regime and Russia’s war in Ukraine. "We demonstrated when Navalny was poisoned, then when he was imprisoned. Then there was the war in Ukraine, and when partial mobilisation was decreed, we lost all hope. We left because we felt we were in danger. It was just unbearable to stay there, war was everywhere."
A year and a half later, the buildings of her adopted city are covered in anti-Russian graffiti. At issue is a law designed to reduce "foreign influence" in Georgia, which protesters call the "Russian law".
Despite the demonstrations that brought thousands of people onto the streets of Tbilisi to protest against the law each night for nearly a month, the ruling party approved it in parliament on Tuesday.
This law is reminiscent of legislation that came into force in Russia about ten years ago which initially targeted human rights NGOs financed by Western countries and gradually turned into a powerful tool of political repression.
"In Russia, ordinary people have become foreign agents overnight," explains Sofia. "It has nothing to do with foreign funding anymore. You can become a foreign agent if the government says you're under the influence of foreign companies or individuals. There's a popular joke going around that Karl Marx may have been a foreign agent."
Read moreThreats against NGO leaders multiply as Georgia green lights ‘Russian law’ for final vote
The Georgians who took to the streets in huge numbers to protest the adoption of this law fear that their country is sliding towards Russian-style rule by oligarchs and a dictator. "We fully support Georgians at this moment. The Russian government is horrible and is trying to impose its law here. I pray for the Georgians. I hope they can protect themselves and keep their independence," she said.
In another local café frequented by exiled Russians, we met Yuri, 39, from Moscow. He was part of an exodus of Russian men who left the country after Putin ordered the mobilisation of 300,000 reservists in September 2022 to replenish Moscow’s forces in Ukraine.
At a table with two friends, between cigarettes and coffees, he tells us how he managed to keep his job. "I work for a big Russian CCTV company. My boss didn't object when I told him I was going to work remotely from abroad."
With a closed expression, Yuri says he supports the demonstrators and has joined the marches on several occasions.
"Right now, what’s happening in Russia is frightening. I understand Georgians who want to move towards Europe. The people are extremely brave and they are protecting their future," he says.
"I see Russian methods being repeated here: repression against demonstrators, imposing things on people. It's happening little by little, and the results are very sad. In Russia today, anyone who even remotely opposes the government's way of thinking is branded an agent of foreigners. It's a fascist regime."
Neither Sofia nor Yuri can imagine returning to Russia for a long time. "It would be dangerous and senseless. I don't see how things could change. As long as things haven't changed, it would be physically dangerous for me to go back to Russia," says Yuri. As for Sofia, she said that if she had any hope of returning, it has been shaken since the assassination of prominent opposition figure Alexei Navalny.
Businesses and a Russian community
Russian citizens do not need a visa to enter Georgia and are automatically granted a one-year residence permit. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Tbilisi quickly became an easily accessible refuge attracting some 100,000 Russians. This estimate is based on data published by Georgia's ministry of internal affairs, which publishes the number of arrivals and departures of Russian citizens in Georgia, but the data are imprecise.
The presence of Russian émigrés is clearly visible and has sometimes sparked controversy. Their sudden arrival has pushed up property prices in the Georgian capital and in some of the Black Sea resort towns.
The number of businesses opened by Russian citizens in Georgia since the start of the war in Ukraine is easier to gauge. According to figures published by the Georgian Business Registry, more than 26,000 companies were registered in Georgia by Russian citizens in 2022 and 2023.
Nearly all of these businesses were registered by people who are self-employed, with 73 percent involved in the IT sector, 5 percent in design and advertising, 4 percent in catering and hotels and 2 percent in real estate and construction.
In Tbilisi, an estimated 200 bars and restaurants have been opened by Russians in the last two years.
Irina Mir, 31, is part of Tbilisi's community of Russian entrepreneurs who fled the war and continue to pursue business opportunities. In the upmarket Vake district, she invited us to meet her in the wine shop she is about to open.
Pleased to talk to a Western journalist while her shop is being refurbished, she was open about her Russian identity and enthusiastic about her business interests: she has already set up a real estate agency, and her new shop will showcase a selection of wines that can even be purchased using NFTs or cryptocurrency. She adds that she has bought land to build an eco-village or spa a few kilometres from Tbilisi.
After this upbeat presentation, Irina becomes more subdued when she mentions her departure from Russia.
"I was living in Moscow and working in a very large real estate company. I took care of big operations, especially with Turkish companies," she explains in a mixture of Russian and English.
"I left Russia in May 2022, because I feel very close to the Ukrainians. I know a lot of people in Ukraine. This point of view is not very acceptable to the Russian people. It's a bit dangerous for me to go back to Russia right now."
Irina mourned Navalny's death and said that "with Putin's re-election, the situation will remain the same. It obviously won't change for the better".
She expresses her full support for the Georgian demonstrators. "I'm impressed by these demonstrations, they give us hope because people want to choose their future. This is precisely what is not possible in Russia. Georgians are very courageous.”
Over a glass of wine, Irina praised Georgian hospitality. And when asked about the nationality of the investors interested in her projects in the country, she asserts that they are based in the European Union and speak Russian.
Opposition to war and business
Irina's plans and projects are a reminder that Georgia has become more than a refuge for Russians fleeing the military draft and dictatorship. Since the outbreak of war in Ukraine, the former Soviet republic has also become a popular destination for Russian investment.
According to the National Bank of Georgia, $1.5 billion in Russian capital entered Georgia in 2023, four times the average for the previous 10 years. In 2022, the figure was over $2 billion, 5 times the 10-year average.
By refusing, like its neighbour Turkey, to adopt economic sanctions against Russia, Georgia has become a strategically important country for Moscow. The many companies set up by Russians in Georgia can help individuals and companies circumvent Western sanctions or repatriate funds to Russia.
After the law on "foreign agents" was approved on Tuesday, it’s an open question as to whether Georgia, with its 3.7 million inhabitants, will be able to maintain a balance between its aspirations to join the EU and the demands of its bellicose Russian neighbour.
Russian exiles in Tbilisi are hoping for the best, and point to the calm and determination of the demonstrators. When Yuri was asked if he was frightened by the anti-Russian slogans and placards, he replied with a categorical "niet".
"The demonstrators are against this law, but they're not opposed to the presence of Russians as human beings. It's the Russian system that's completely unacceptable. I don't take it personally at all.”
This page has been translated from the original in French.
