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Clack! The purple exit stamp in my passport clears the best way from the Russian Federation into the European Union. Shortly earlier than midnight I’m permitted to exit Russian territory. The younger border guard who simply wielded the stamp provides me a pleasant smile. “Have a superb journey dwelling! I assume you possibly can’t fly anymore,” she says. No, we will not. In a roundabout way, anyway. However we will cross on foot.
We cross by means of just a little barrier, then, past it, by means of an enormous iron gate and over a bridge surrounded by a mesh fence. A chilly evening wind escorts me as I drag my two suitcases throughout the River Narva, which marks the border between the Russian city of Ivangorod and the Estonian metropolis named after the river. It’s 162 meters (534.6 toes) of no-man’s-land. On the left is a automobile lane for vans; on the proper, beneath me, is the darkish water. Narva’s illuminated medieval fortress shines on the alternative financial institution. Behind me lies a rustic whose medieval politics have rallied half the world in opposition.
A five-minute stroll over the “Bridge of Friendship” takes me not simply to the opposite financial institution, however to a different world. The friendship that when existed between Russia and the European Union isn’t any extra.
The Bridge of Friendship connects Estonia and Russia throughout the river Narva
Sanctions have an effect on journey
Earlier than the crossing, I made a 10-hour prepare journey from Moscow and St. Petersburg to the Russia-Estonia border. After the crossing, and an evening in Narva, I’ll spend one other 4 hours on a bus to the Estonian capital, Tallinn, adopted by a two-hour flight from there to Berlin. Working as a correspondent in Russia for the previous seven years, I might full this journey in two and a half hours with a direct flight from Moscow to Berlin. This time it took a day and a half.
The route I took on foot throughout the border just isn’t the one manner you possibly can go away Russia. There are nonetheless flights obtainable. Nevertheless, anybody desirous to fly to the West lately have to be ready to fork out some huge cash — and to attend. Proper now, flights by way of Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Azerbaijan and Armenia are exorbitantly costly, and extra in demand than ever. EU airspace is closed to Russian planes, whereas Russian airspace is closed to Western planes.
There are additionally dangers for those who do determine to fly. Some Russian airways are now not allowed to make use of planes leased within the West. There’s, due to this fact, a minimum of a theoretical threat that airline passengers might discover themselves caught on the bottom in a 3rd nation if the airplane makes an intermediate cease and is impounded there. Airbus, which has its headquarters within the Netherlands, and the US producer Boeing have additionally suspended their technical assist service for planes owned by Russian airways.
The writer says goodbye after Russia pressured the closure of DW’s Moscow bureau
Many Russians caught
There’s actually no mass exodus from Russia at current. In gentle of the sanctions imposed by the West, there are usually not many individuals who may even afford to go away the nation, anyway — not even briefly, as a result of nobody is aware of what is going to occur subsequent. Sure well-known pop stars are rumored to have fled the nation; a few of them have publicly criticized the Russian assault on Ukraine, and the rumors say they’re afraid of being focused by the safety providers.
Many individuals who stay in Russia concern elevated inflation, rising unemployment, and worsening requirements of residing. The ruble has been falling for days now, and rates of interest are going up. Some financial analysts warn that the Russian economic system might shrink this yr by as a lot as 10%.
However in Narva, on the opposite aspect of the Friendship Bridge, Estonians are additionally apprehensive that their financial scenario will worsen. Everybody right here is speaking in regards to the value of petrol; it has been going up for days.
And in my one brief evening in an Estonian lodge, I can not assist noticing that the temperature in my room is significantly decrease than in Russia. Gasoline is pricey right here.
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