‘I OPPOSE THE WHOLE THING’: Russians who live in Ottawa protest alongside Ukrainians

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Maria Kartasheva came to Ottawa from Russia three years ago.

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“I didn’t feel safe in Russia anymore. Anytime you wanted to stand up to the violence, you were never safe,” Kartasheva said. “If someone didn’t like something you posted, you could be taken away.”

Kartasheva was too frightened to be vocal in Russia. But even though she is not yet a Canadian citizen, being in Canada has made all the difference, she said.

She has joined rallies protesting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as often as she can since last week.

“I am in Canada. They can’t do anything to me,” she said.

“I ask everyone I know to protest here because people in Russia can’t ask other people to protest. It’s illegal.”

Tatiana Lebedeva, a Russian who has lived in Canada for over seven years, first in Winnipeg, and more recently in Ottawa, said when tensions began, she spent her time “doom scrolling” online and feeling anxious and exhausted.

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“It’s really surreal. I really couldn’t sit back and watch it unfold. I oppose the whole thing,” said Lebedeva, who created an “Ottawa stands with Ukraine” Facebook page last week and has been posting news items and times and locations of protests.

“I feel like I’m contributing to the good side,” said Lebedeva, who is from St. Petersburg.

“In Russia, there are a lot of Russians who don’t support this. There are a lot of people who realize it’s not Russian people who started the war. It’s Putin and the government.”

Kartasheva estimates about 100 Ottawa Russians have attended protests so far. Recent Russian arrivals in Ottawa bonded last year during a protest over the arrest and imprisonment of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, she said.

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Navalny remains in jail and has called for Russians to protest the invasion of Ukraine both in Russia and abroad. News reports have claimed at least 6,500 people have been arrested in Russia and there have been numerous demonstrations.

Earlier this week, Reuters reported that Russia’s foreign ministry had demanded that Canada keep Russian diplomats safe and threatened retaliation if they failed to do so after an Ottawa rally on Sunday attracted hundreds of supporters. The rally started in front of the Russian embassy in Sandy Hill and ended up at city hall.

Ukrainians are also urging Russians in Canada to encourage protests back home.

Oxana Genina, a native of Dnipro in central Ukraine who has lived in Canada since 2004, joined the Sunday rally. Her first language is Russian, but she also speaks Ukrainian, English and French.

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As protesters walked down Laurier Avenue from the Russian embassy, Genina moved from one group to another. If she heard a group speaking Ukrainian, she walked on. If she heard them speaking English, she thanked them for participating. If she heard them speaking Russian, she asked them to contact family and friends in Russia.

“My mission right now is to reach out to the Russian population and try to appeal to them to stop the war from inside the country,” said Genina, who estimates she met about a dozen groups of Russians at Sunday’s rally.

“They have to create that critical mass that would make arrests impossible. There are people who are standing up for freedom. There are people who would have done it, but they are afraid. There are people who have been hesitating.”

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The context in Ottawa is complicated. There have been four major waves of Ukrainian immigration to Canada, starting more than 120 years ago. While some Ukrainian protesters at Sunday’s protest have lived in Canada for decades or generations, others are recent arrivals. Some also have family who live in Russia.

According to Statistics Canada, 6,150 people in Ottawa counted Russian as their mother tongue in 2016, compared to 1,630 who said it was Ukrainian. Some of those whose first language is Russian, like Genina, are Ukrainian.

“I’m Ukrainian in my heart. I’m very Canadian. But Ukraine is my motherland. My heart is crying for my compatriots. I’m so proud of my motherland,” she said.

Kartasheva agrees that Russians should protest. But she is skeptical whether even massive protests in Russia can make a difference in the current situation. Sanctions and political pressure are also needed, she said.

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In her hometown of Khabarovsk in southeastern Russia, the region’s governor Sergei Furgal was arrested, charged with murder (he denied the allegations) and imprisoned in 2020 after he won an election against a Kremlin candidate. The events sparked protests that went on for months. Furgal remains in prison.

“I just don’t think Putin will be stopped only by protests,” Kartasheva said.

In the meantime, both Kartasheva and Lebedeva have concerns about how going public in Canada may affect family back home in Russia.

“They could get my family, in theory. But there are way too many people who oppose this,” Kartasheva said.