The two sit silent in a room listening to a Russian translation of Goenka’s teachings of Vipassana over a speaker. They are being watched over like prisoners by a young, Argentinian man. The two look hopeless. Bent over and bored. Each night for 10 nights I walked by this scene. I was in awe at this strange juxtaposition. Andrey, a Russian, on the left and Dmitry, a Ukrainian, on the right.
Both men in their mid-thirties and capable of being uniformed, fighting each other. Both capable of being imprisoned by the other as opposed to being imprisoned by their decision to partake in a 10 day Vipassana meditation course. Neither was angry at the other. On the contrary, they were fast friends.
In early 2025, the Ukrainian war continues. Trump has promised to put an end to the conflict, but, as of early February, we have yet to see that end. I have no place detailing the history of the war or providing any researched information (because I don’t want to do any research). However, I do want to bring attention to a particular part of the war that my residence in Buenos Aires has made me very familiar with. The ongoing diaspora.
An early scene from the war was that of long lines of women and children making their way into Poland as well as other neighboring countries. I had some personal connection to this as I had a student who was living in Ukraine at the start of the war. She made it out soon after the war began but would have to change schools due to her rapidly changing situation (she also was the only remaining completely online student at our school in Bolivia so it was for the best that she switch schools). I wouldn’t be aware of how others were affected until starting Spanish courses here in Buenos Aires in 2023. Several of my classmates would end up being Russian. This was how I met Andrey.
It is worth noting that it seems that there are three different categories of Russian immigrants in Argentina. There are parents that come to give birth and go through some legal processes to obtain citizenship quickly then return to Russian all within weeks or months (I have never gotten to know any of these people so I can’t say much else). There are those who have decided to leave for political reasons and left soon after the war started. Those that felt that they could not tolerate living in a state that was invading another senselessly. Then there are men of fighting age who may or may not have come with a girlfriend or wife. These men all left Russia about two years ago when the possibility of being conscripted into the army grew.
Through friends and the internet, they made decisions about which country to relocate to. Some countries proved to be more open than others toward Russian people. It is my understanding that the ones most easy to immigrate to were Serbia, Georgia, Armenia, Turkey, and Argentina (this may not be an exhaustive nor completely accurate list). Argentina has a particularly easy and doable process* for obtaining a passport which attracted many Russians to come here.
Due to having just a few countries to flee to, a large number of Russians arrived to Argentina over the last couple of years allowing a community to form and a number of businesses to start to support the community. As I mentioned earlier, I got to know a few of these immigrants through my Spanish classes. This is where I got to meet Andrey who would end up becoming a great friend and be one of my roommates at the aforementioned Vipassana retreat. I would also like to mention a couple other characters from this class. One was a 16 year-old girl from Moscow named Vasilisa. Vasilisa was my partner once or twice for in-class work. I remember her looking at the work that I had done on my own paper and telling me that I was wrong on several occasions with a demanding, “Es incorecto” while pointing at my work. Also in that class was Vladimir who remains a friend. When Vladimir introduced himself to the class he mentioned that he and his wife had come in the months prior and also that he was 19 years-old. Vladimir is now 21 applying to American universities and processing his divorce papers.
Since the Russian immigrants have come here to stay and study in university, I actually find that I have a lot more in common with them than the typical American or Western European. Most Americans and Europeans come here for a few months in the summer, a couple of years at the embassy, a study abroad semester, or are just stopping by for a few days while traveling for a long period of time. It is much more fun and enriching to have become good friends with people who are actually living in Buenos Aires as opposed to just those passing through. The Russians also have the shared experience of being a foreigner which makes them easier to befriend than an Argentian might be. So over the last year and a half, my circle of friends has come to include more and more Russians.
Andrey and I decided to do the retreat together a few months ago. We met Dmitry there. Dmitry’s story of arrival to Argentina was a lot more extreme. Ukraine, having a smaller population, conscripts a larger percentage of the men into the army. Dmitry had moved from a city near the Russian border (Kharkiv) to a village in the western part of the country as soon as the war broke out in order to avoid being sent to fight. He spent over a year in this village until the threat of being conscripted became too great. Being a young male civilian in Ukraine means living with the constant threat that the Ukrainian police would pick you up and send you to fight.
Dmitry had no aspirations of becoming a soldier. The only way out, it seemed, was through an illegal border crossing. He told me that there was a small stretch of the border between Ukraine and Romania in the mountains that was known to be unpatrolled due to its difficult terrain.
Although putting himself at risk of losing his life, he decided that he would rather attempt escape than wait for almost certain conscription in the army. He is a pacifist and a bit of a hippie (hence meeting each other at the 10 day Vipassana retreat). He refused to involve himself in the killing of Russians. However part of his preparation to make the 50 km trek through the Carpathians to illegally cross into Romania was accepting that he may have to kill a Ukrainian border guard. Had he been caught by a border guard, he would immediately be sent to the war. He packed a knife for this purpose, covered himself in camoflauge and made the trek. He moved during the day and slept at night. He safely made it into Romania without any interaction with the Ukrainian border guards. Upon making it to Romania, he said he didn’t sleep for two weeks. He was so jarred by how close he had come to a far different fate whether it was successfully killing a border guard and escaping to Romania, losing that fight and being killed himself, or being captured and sent to the front lines to await almost certain death as punishment for attempting to escape his country.
Romania doesn’t send escapees back to Ukraine nor do they look for them. Dmitry was allowed to exist there for a time before eventually traveling to Sri Lanka to enjoy the nature, take mushrooms, and fall in love with the women. Realizing that he only had three more years until his passport would expire and fearing that his choice to escape Ukraine during the war would make it difficult or impossible to return safely, he decided to seek out a country where he could obtain citizenship and a new passport as quickly as possible. So like my Russian friends, he finds himself in Argentina making a life.
He entered and exited our lives on a Royal Enfield motorcycle. The Vipassana retreat was only one stop on a spiritual journey that was taking him to the north of Argentina and potentially Bolivia. He had plans to find an ayahuasca ceremony to partake in. The trauma of the last few years seemed to sit heavily within him. He gave Andrey and me big hugs and we hope to see him again someday in Buenos Aires.
I have no doubt that there will be many years of hatred between large swaths of the Ukranian and Russian populations towards each other following this war. However, this hatred is not a natural one (not that it ever would be). Dmitry felt no reason to be mad at Andrey for the war. He had so much to be angry about. Friends and family being killed, having to move cities in Ukraine, and, eventually, having to leave the country. But Andrey had nothing to do with the war that he was also running from.
The political decisions of just a few have the power to send unbelievable ripples through our lives. I take this experience as a dreadful message that things can change very rapidly due to how few people are involved in these decisions. Should Trump decide to invade Panama, Canada, Greenland, China, Iran, or any other country, the lives of the American people as well as those in the countries being attacked would be changed drastically. Imagine news channels propagandizing a new hatred of Panamanians, dehumanizing the small, indigenous population of Greenland, or deeming young men heroes should they choose to volunteer to fight the evil Chinese forces. Some Americans will be happy to believe these messages, happy to leave safe, quiet lives for the call to war, and happy to serve the political will of the Trump regime. Others would call me and ask about how they could move to Buenos Aires to avoid being drafted.
For now, I am happy to have so many Russian friends, to have gotten to know Dmitry, and to have gotten to see the two of these guys become friends.
*Despite the relative ease of obtaining legal documents (visas, passports, etc.) for foreigners, I still do not have any form of long-term visa even after two and a half years of living here. I have myself, the national university, and lax ways of treating those who have the all-powerful American passport to blame for this. I should obtain a student visa in the coming months though.
Very interesting point of view. I blame Putin NOT the Russian and Ukrainian people for this senseless war. Let’s hope Trump doesn’t give Putin what he wants to end the war so he can get the Nobel Peace Prize.
So enjoy the Walking Gringo! Keep the coming! Heather (mom)