Photos: Tanya Habjouqa/NOOR for NPR.
Choreographer Polina Mitryashina, artist Victor Melamed, and jazz producer Evgenii Petrushanskiy are Russian artists who have recently fled Russia to live in Israel.
Most of the Ukrainians I worked with for those precious few months after the Russian invasion believe that all Russians support Putin’s war. But although I would probably feel the same if I were constantly being bombed and had no electricity and was running out of food, I believe that nations aren’t monoliths.
Today we learn about some Jewish Russian artists who are against the war and have left their country. It’s not just about saving their own skin. It’s outrage.
As Daniel Estrin reports at National Public Radio, “Some of Russia’s biggest artistic talents have immigrated to Israel this year, finding a safe place to rebuild their careers and voice their conscience about their country’s war in Ukraine.
“Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, it has cracked down on even the slightest opposition to the war, forced thousands of citizens to enlist to fight and drawn tough sanctions from the West. All this has prompted many Russians to flee.
“More than 28,000 Russian nationals have acquired Israeli citizenship since the war began, according to Israeli government figures. …
” ‘Staying behind the Iron Curtain was incredibly scary,’ Russian artist Victor Melamed says. … Melamed, whose portraits have appeared in the New Yorker magazine, fled to Israel in June. He says: ‘I want to be a person of the world.’
“Russians are relocating mostly to Turkey, Kazakhstan and Georgia. But Israel offers one big advantage: Those with at least one Jewish grandparent can get Israeli citizenship for themselves and their close family.
” ‘When the war started, I think, like, everybody literally remembered their Jewish grandma,’ says Liza Rozovsky, a Russian-born Israeli journalist tracking Russian celebrity arrivals for the Haaretz newspaper. …
“Some Ukrainian immigrants in Israel wish the Russian newcomers would stay in Russia to protest their leadership, despite the risks. ‘They’re trying to run away,’ says Ilona Stavytska, 33, a Ukrainian-born barista in Tel Aviv.
“But Russian exiles say their protest is more effective here. ‘Go protest in Moscow. I will support you. I will say, “Oh, look, this person is protesting.” Then I will send you letters to jail,’ says Maxim Katz, 37, a Russian YouTube blogger and former opposition politician who escaped to Israel and publishes anti-war videos to audiences in Russia. …
“What a difference a year has made for jazz producer Evgenii Petrushanskii. Last year, his record label in Russia, Rainy Days Records, produced a jazz album which got nominated for a Grammy. This year, the record label has gone silent.
” ‘I don’t feel it’s the right time now to release music as a Russian label,’ Petrushanskii, 36, says at a Tel Aviv coffee shop. ‘For the ethical reasons, I stopped.’ Days after Russia invaded Ukraine, he left St. Petersburg for Tel Aviv, claiming Israeli citizenship based on his father’s Jewish roots.
” ‘It’s impossible to release a record in Russia so it goes to the foreign audience,’ Petrushanskii says. ‘A majority of music aggregators who release music toward the platforms like Apple Music, Spotify … are not presenting in Russia anymore.’ Now he’s re-registering his record label in Israel, hoping to release new records of Russian artists next year.
“Polina Mitryashina, 28, worked at one of the world’s leading dance institutions, Russia’s Mariinsky Theater. Then when the war broke out, her dancers began to vanish.
” ‘Now they’re in Oslo,’ she says. …
“Mitryashina attended a recent networking event at the Israel Festival in Jerusalem, which brought 100 Russian and Ukrainian artists in film, music, art and dance — new immigrants like her — to meet veteran Israeli artistic directors and try to rebuild their careers in Israel.
‘Sometimes I’m angry [at] the people who stay … and continue to work for the big companies, and continue to make money’ in Russia, she says. ‘I am like, “Are you crazy? You, you’re like a sponsor of the war.” ‘
“Artist Victor Melamed, 45, moved his family to a quiet Tel Aviv suburb to keep his teenage boys out of a potential Russian military draft — though they will likely be drafted into the Israeli army.
” ‘I have no romantic visions of, you know, Israel’s policies,’ he says. ‘The Israeli army is an institution that cares for every person they have … as opposed to the Russian army.’
“Each morning he draws a black-and-white portrait of a Ukrainian civilian killed in a Russian attack, and posts it on Instagram. He says it’s his way of pinching himself, not to get too comfortable in his new home in Israel. …
” ‘We need to grow up,’ he says. ‘We cannot afford to stay the same.’ “
More at NPR, here.
Suzanne's Mom's Blog 
Thank you for posting about this extremely sad situation.
I keep wondering how long and in what ways this unjustifiable war will keep damaging the lives of Ukrainians, antiwar Russians, and all the other people touched by it.
Thank you for sharing this information. Heartbreaking, but it is reality. I feel like I hear less and less about it in our mainstream media (US), and that is not okay.
The usual attention-span issue.
We passed the summer in Spain and many people used to frown upon the Russian expats, not realizing that those Russians were actually fleeing their country because they too opposed the war.
Yes. It gets complicated.
Good reminder. I have wondered if folks thought the same about Americans during the Afghanistan/Iraq war.
Yeah, pretty sure they did.
So much pain !😢 I’ve also read of Russian men fleeing so they aren’t forced into fighting against Ukrainian soldiers who just might be a relative.
I am not surprised. Most don’t want to kill or be killed. Some even know it’s a stupid war even though they are apparently not learning that from Russian media.
When people are being shut down left and right, sent to jail, and on top of that random strangers (or even friends/family) can report you to the FSB, it’s difficult to fight in Russia. You don’t know whom to trust and it seems like nobody has power, but the tzar. People are leaving because they need to regroup and find a way to fight back.
I appreciate your comment. It makes sense to me. I know some Ukrainians, and it makes me a sad that it’s hard for the to see that some Russians are against the “tsar.” They see what is on Russian tv, which makes it looks like ordinary citizens are gung-ho for bombing civilian apartment buildings.