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Imagine there’s something you’re passionate about, an interest and talent you have that you decide to make your life’s mission. Then the circumstances around you change, through no fault of your own. Powerful people make rules preventing you from doing what you love, and the situation is totally out of your control. Suddenly, practicing this skill you have has become really dangerous, and yet your work now seems more important than ever.
That’s basically a summary of the past few years of the life of my friend Ivan.
He’s a journalist from Russia who’s been forced to leave his native country due to the war against Ukraine and the resulting Russian crackdown on press freedom and free expression.
As you may know, the current conflict is now entering its third year, and it’s been a humanitarian disaster. According to UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency, it’s displaced nearly 7 million Ukrainians globally. And on the other side, an estimated 900-thousand Russians have also fled their country for various reasons.
Among them are economic migrants, conscientious objectors and political refugees, but also a smaller subset of hundreds of exiled journalists, who’ve had to leave in order to continue to report freely without having to worry about their personal safety.
On the latest episode of Far From Home, I travel to Riga, Latvia to meet up with Ivan and see how he’s adapting to what – for the time being, at least – has become his new home.
He shows me around his newly-adopted city, and we visit the site of the Russian embassy, where people left flowers, candles, and photographs in memory of political dissident Alexei Navalny, who had died in a Russian penal colony just over a week before our visit.
We also saw a really chilling art installation dedicated to the nearly 20,000 Ukrainian children that Russia has reportedly kidnapped during the past few years of the war. You can find out more information at https://russiaswaronchildren.org/
Until next time, thanks for listening.