Paul Goble
Staunton, Feb. 10 – Moscow has always faced an uphill battle in in attracting back those who have Russia because most know what happened to many returnees in the Soviet period, memories that are fed by such films as the 1999 classic East/West starring Catherine Deneuve (windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2023/02/soviet-treatment-of-emigres-who.html).
But now the Belarusian government of Alyaksandr Lukashenka has made that Russian task far more difficult. After launching a campaign to get Belarusians to come back, it has imprisoned many of those who have fallen for its arguments (meduza.io/feature/2023/02/10/ne-skuchaete-po-vashemu-uyutnomu-domiku).
In fact, Russian opposition figures now say that the program Minsk launched at the end of 2021, “The Road Home,” is in fact “A Direct Road to Jail.” While Moscow doesn’t always follow Minsk in its repressive actions, it does so sufficiently often that many Russians who have fled because of the war in Ukraine may think twice by taking any chances.
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