Impact of Russo-ukraine War on the Slavic Immigrants (Essay Sample)

With Putin’s recent announcement of war on Ukraine, everyone’s lives have flipped upside down, and although rising gas prices are also pretty upsetting, one of the biggest effects of the war is the attitude toward Slavic immigrants. I say “Slavic” immigrants because “the label, “Russian,” has been applied to multilayered religious and cultural identities … Belarus, Armenia, Moldova and other former Soviet republics” (Jordan 1). So in reality, not everyone considered “Russian” is truly Russian. Which makes it all the more unfair to judge them based on Putin’s actions. Most of these immigrants left Russia for a reason, and have little to no ties with the country. By unfairly judging these immigrants, people make them feel even guiltier than they already feel about something that is not even their fault. This even leads to a lot of Russian immigrants, including myself, feeling ashamed to reveal their nationality to others, afraid of what their reaction might be like and how they might start treating them differently.

Since Putin announced war on Ukraine, Slavic immigrants living in North America have been receiving threats - even if they are not necessarily Russian. Many international university students have been treated discriminatorily and have even been faced with expulsion because of their nationality. “For example, one [student] who has lived here for several years was harassed and even received a physical threat from a male classmate because somehow the war [was] her fault at a personal level for being a Russian national. Another [student] at this same university [said] that her professor refused to begin class until every Russian student left the room” (Blankenship 1). Another example of the discriminatory attitude that Russian immigrants face is that of Ike Gazaryan, the owner of a Slavic restaurant in America. “[He] attributed the first few abusive calls to his restaurant … to kids messing around. But then … the threats seemed to get more worrisome. [He] started getting more serious calls, with people yelling and screaming at [them]” (Law 2). Although these are just a few of the examples shared by people, discriminatory attitude towards Slavic immigrants is clearly evident in North America.

“The attacks appear to indiscriminately target those from the Russian-speaking diaspora,”says Gazaryan. “Some victims of abuse fled political persecution in Russian and former Soviet republics themselves. Others are not Russian at all but immigrated from other parts of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, including Ukraine” (Law 2). On February 26, the All Saints Russian Orthodox Church in Calgary faced an act of vandalism, as the temple door was spray painted with splashes of red. While being interviewed about the situation, Father Dmitry Grygoryev responded by saying, “I am from Ukraine, I have relatives there. This parish was founded by immigrants and people who escaped the revolution. I don’t see much sense in targeting us” (Croteau 1).

In an interview with Jack Knox, a Victoria Russian named Vladimir, who moved to Canada 7 years ago, mentioned that “[he has] no logical reason to feel awkward because it’s not [his] fault - but at the same time, [he] does feel bad. Call it guilt by association” (Knox 1). This is a sentiment shared by many Russian immigrants - including myself. The situation gets worse when famous celebrities take to their platforms to outright express their hatred of Russians. Recently, “hall of fame Czech hockey player Dominik Hasek made [his] Russophobia clear. He recently called for the outright ban of Russians from the US NHL - regardless of their stance on the war. To him, a person’s passport determines their culpability for their government’s actions” (Blankenship 1).

Shannon Driscoll, an American who visited Russia, noticed an incredible change in her mindset after the experience. She remarked that “as an American, she had grown up believing that Russians were the enemy, but now, seeing them at first hand, she realized how kind and charming they were - ordinary, decent people, as so many of us try to be. But now there is this crisis. The problem, however, is not the people, but the politicians. We must not become engulfed by Russophobia” (Strange 1).

It is understandable that with a high stress and confusing situation like a war, emotions and tensions are running high, but it is also unfair to blame people that have nothing to do with it just because of their nationality. Most of them either escaped from similar situations, are outright against the war and Putin himself, or are not even technically Russian, but are Belarussian, Georgian, or even Ukrainian! It is also completely unnecessary to verbally abuse them and make them feel even worse about their nationality. Chances are, they already feel extremely terrible and guilty about it - even if they have no reason for it - just because of their association. It is unfair to make anyone feel badly about their nationality because at the end of the day, we cannot choose where we were born. I am in no way trying to justify Putin’s actions or victimize Russians, because his actions are gut-wrenchingly horrible and the real victims in the situation are clearly Ukrainians, but I am just trying to show the situation from a different perspective - the perspective of a Russian immigrant that has never had any ties to Russia besides knowing the language and being born there.