“I could be put in jail just for saying I’m against the war!” said Smirnov, 25. Roughly a quarter of Ukraine’s 44 million people are either internally displaced or have sought safety outside the country’s borders. Such affiliations have been essentially criminalized under repressive measures enacted by Putin’s allies soon after the Feb. 24 invasion. “At first, I was enthusiastic to start something new,” said Sima Kondratenko, a 19-year-old photography model who left Moscow with two friends. Eremeyev, a longtime activist before he left Russia for Georgia, was pessimistic about whether antiwar protests could truly threaten Putin’s rule.

Source: Los Angeles Times April 03, 2022 20:38 UTC