A young Russian in Ireland: ‘You feel ashamed for your country’

Watching footage of the destruction of Ukraine from the other side of Europe, one young Russian living in Dublin, Lizaveta Takvarava, said she feels "ashamed" of what her country has done.

The 21-year-old law and business student in University College Dublin (UCD) grew up in Russia and moved to Ireland to study in September 2019.

“Ukrainians are our family members, best friends, school fellows . . . Your heart is bleeding, you feel ashamed for your country,” she said.

Sitting in a restaurant with friends discussing the tensions around the build-up of Russian troops on Ukraine’s border in recent weeks, she never imagined it would end in an invasion.

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“Nobody thought this would happen,” she said. “Before all this happened I was proud to say I’m Russian, I love my culture,” the UCD student said.

Now she felt her country was associated with invasion and violence.

“That’s why you don’t feel proud. You feel ashamed, especially in front of Ukrainians, who are our brothers,” she said.

Ms Takvarava, who is living in south Dublin, said many ordinary Russians did not support the war.

“The population and the government have nothing to do with each other, especially in our situation,” she said.

Since the conflict began she has donated supplies to charity relief efforts for Ukrainians fleeing the country, as well as attended protests outside the Russian embassy in Dublin.

“If I can help somehow, I will,” she said.

The people of Ukraine, which included some of her friends, “don’t deserve this,” she said.

“I’m really sorry for what’s happening to them at the moment, it’s devastating . . . Now is not the time to come out onto the street and say I’m proud to be Russian,” she said.

She grew up in a time when Ukraine had always been independent from Russia, and had viewed the country as such, she said.

Economic damage

Her grandmother is living in Belarus, "near where the rockets are landing", and she said she fears for her safety as well if the conflict continues to escalate.

She is also worried about the impact of the severe financial sanctions on her relatives and friends living in Russia.

“There’s lots of implications on Russians who didn’t ask for this, or want this,” she said.

The economic damage of the sanctions would likely “incentivise” many Russians to try to leave the country, Ms Takvarava added.

The sanctions had also impacted Russian friends in Ireland, who had their money in Russian banks.

“Lots of my Russian friends who have not opened bank accounts in Ireland are caught, their cards aren’t working, and their parents can’t transfer money to them because Swift is blocked,” she said.

Attitudes towards the invasion differed between her younger generation and some older Russians, who she felt could be more susceptible to fake news and disinformation. The media in Russia “are not talking about war, they are calling it a special operation,” she said.

That Soviet-era generation, like her grandmother born in 1941, while not necessarily in favour of war, viewed it more as a part of life than younger Russians might, she said.

“The only thought on my mind is, let it end as soon as possible,” she said. However, she did not hold much hope for a peaceful resolution to the conflict. “Knowing our leader, I guess he wants to finish what he started,” she said.