Savo Dobrovic says, “Our people respect both the Russian and Ukrainian people.” “I haven’t seen any bad relations.”
It sounds like the recipe for tension and conflict: tens or thousands of people from opposing parties in a bitter war descend on a small Balkan country with its own recent memories of war.
But Montenegro is managing the influx.
Since February 2022 Ukrainian refugees and Russians exiles have spread across Europe, fleeing the war, conscription, and Vladimir Putin‘s regime.
More than 4 million people fled Ukraine to seek temporary protection in the European Union, including Germany, Poland and other countries.
Montenegro, which is not part of the EU, has taken in more than 200,000 Ukrainians. This makes it the country with the largest per capita Ukrainian refugee population.
“Montenegrins have a lot of patience, and they want to help,” Dobrovic, an owner of property in the Adriatic resort Budva, says.
Their way of life is characterized by the word polako which means “slowly”.
“It amazes us – they are a mountain people but all that is left of their noisy temperament is a wish to hug you,” says Natalya Svets-Yermolina who runs the Russian Cultural Centre Reforum in Budva.
Montenegro is a Nato candidate and a member of Nato. It has not been free from problems.
Six Russian diplomats were expelled in 2012 on suspicion of espionage. It is home to a large ethnic Serb community.
It has received praise for its response in the refugee crisis, and especially its decision to grant Ukrainians a temporary protection status that has now been extended to March 2025.
The latest figures from September of last year show that more than 10,000 Ukrainians have benefited. According to the UN, 62,000 Ukrainians were registered with some sort of legal status at that time. This is almost 10% of Montenegro’s population.
Many more thousands have come from Russia and Belarus.
Montenegro appeals to all of these groups because it offers a visa-free system, a similar language, a common religion, and governmental policies that lean towards the West.
The quality of their life is not always reflected in the welcome they receive.
There are many jobs available for immigrants in coastal regions, but they are usually seasonal and poorly compensated. It is difficult to find professional, high-quality work. Some lucky ones have been able retain their jobs at home while working remotely.
Another problem is that it’s almost impossible to obtain citizenship in the country. This is a problem for people who are unable to renew passports for whatever reason.
Since years, there has been a strong Russian influence in Montenegro. It has the reputation, perhaps unjustly, of being a playground for very wealthy people.
Many Russians and Ukrainians are here because of family or property connections. However, there are also many who arrived here almost by accident, feeling lost.
Pristaniste, a non-profit shelter, was created for them.
It is based in Budva and offers the most desperate of arrivals a safe haven for two weeks while they get their bearings.
Ukrainians are offered assistance with finding jobs, flats and documentation. They can also come to the country for two weeks of “holidays” from the war.
Valentina Ostroglyad (60) and her daughter came to this country a year before from Zaporizhzhia in the south-east Ukraine, which is regularly bombarded by Russia.
“When I arrived in Montenegro, I couldn’t handle fireworks or even a falling roof – I associated that with those explosions,” said she.
She is now a teacher of art and enjoys her adopted country. “Today, I went to a spring and admired the mountains and the sea.” And people are very nice.”
The continuing grimness of the conflict ensures that Ukrainians continue to come, unable to endure the pain at home.
Sasha Borkov was separated from his family, including his wife and six kids, aged between four and 16, when they left Ukraine at the end of August.
He was turned away at the Polish border. He had previously served time in jail in Hungary for transporting illegal migrants and is now banned from the EU. His family was allowed to continue on to Germany, while he, following a few tense days of travelling around Europe, finally touched down in Montenegro.
He was visibly exhausted and stressed as he described the war that had forced him and his family to leave their home.
“It’s impossible to understand when you hear and see every day people being killed and houses being destroyed,” he said.
“Our flat hasn’t been damaged, but the windows are broken and [the bombs] get closer and closer.”
Borkov said he was considering going to Montenegro ever since the beginning of the war. “[Pristaniste] gave me food, drink, and a place to live.” I rested and then I began looking for work.”
He has already found work and his family is due to join him. He is applying for temporary refugee status and a place in a Ukrainian refugee center.
Yuliya Matsuy, a Ukrainian woman, has opened a children’s center in Budva where Ukrainians can take classes in history, English and maths, or simply dance, sing, and watch movies.
She says that many were traumatised by the war: “They didn’t want the mountains or the ocean, they wanted nothing.”
“But when they started to interact, their eyes were smiles. The smiles and emotions of those children were impossible to describe. Then we realized we were doing the right things.”
Now, most of them are settled. The older children have been learning Ukrainian while the younger ones are learning Montenegrin.
Both charities accept volunteers from many countries and do not check passports.
In other parts of Europe, there have been occasional clashes between Ukrainians and Russians. Germany began the war with an increase in attacks against both.
But Montenegro has not seen much of it.
Pristaniste, and its volunteers, have played a part in promoting this sense of tolerance.
Sasha Borkov makes a distinction between Russians that he met in Budva, and those who are fighting in Ukraine.
“People here are trying their best to help. They’re not doing anything wrong, they’re just trying to help. They’re not doing something against our country, us, or my children. [Unlike] those who fire and destroy our homes and say they’re liberating them.”
Residents and volunteers have formed friendships, as well as between them. A Russian-Ukrainian married couple lived at Pristaniste.
Empathy is an important factor. The Russian audience at a recent talk by Kyiv journalist Olha Musatirova about her work in Ukrainian was in tears. They were horrified by the actions of their country.
According to Ukrainian actress Katarina sinchillo, Russian Diasporas are “variable” and Montenegro is “sensitive”.
“I think that the people here are a different community, because it’s the intelligencesia,” says she. “Educated people who cannot live without the arts.”
Sinchillo, along with her husband and fellow actor Viktor Koshel set up a theater here, using actors from the entire former Soviet Union.
She says that progressive Russians, who are helping Ukraine are attending with interest and pleasure.
Koshel believes that the environment is ideal for such contacts. “The countryside here is heavenly. It takes you away from urbanist, depressive, gloomy moods, political propaganda, etc. “You go to the ocean and all of that disappears.”
They have also worked with veteran Russian rock singer Mikhail Borzykin who has witnessed the changes in the Russian Diaspora over the last three years. Rare are the Russian-Ukrainian musical projects.
He says that before the war, “fierce debates” about Putin were common in the Russian community, but the recent influx anti-war immigrants changed the atmosphere.
“The overwhelming number of young people that have come here understand the horror of what is happening, so there’s agreement on the major questions,” he said.
The former corrupt elite members of Russia who are pro-Kremlin, whom he calls vatnaya (the diaspora), are sitting in the properties that they bought in Montenegro many years ago.
“Conflicts do not get aired publicly,” he says.
Borzykin, a Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian volleyball player, says that they are all “on the same wavelength”.
Despite a relatively warm welcome, some immigrants’ futures remain uncertain.
Many of them won’t be able stay in the country for a long time due to strict citizenship laws.
Most Ukrainians are eager to return home, assuming that they still have a place to live.
Sasha Borkov says, “Currently, there’s a big threat to our lives. But if that ends, we’ll return home.” “There’s no place better than home”.
Most Russians believe it will take more than just the fall of the current regime to convince them to return permanently.
Natalya Sevets – Yermolina is from Petrozavodsk in the north and says she is not in a rush.
She says, “I have a problem because it wasn’t Putin who persecuted but those little people that I lived in the city with.” “Putin may be far away, but those who follow his orders will remain even if he is soon to die.”
Borzykin also says that he is unlikely to return soon, as attitudes can take decades to change.
“Germany needed thirty years [after the Nazis] before the new generation arrived.” I’m afraid that I won’t be able to last that long.
This article was written by Oleg Pshenichny.
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