He left his girlfriend, friends, and family back in Russia ... to avoid being drafted in the army.
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00:00She didn't want to stop me to leave.
00:02We both felt really sad and hoped that soon we gonna be able to see each other again.
00:15My name is Niki.
00:16I'm coming from Russia.
00:17I'm 28 years old and I do YouTube videos for a living.
00:21On September 21st we had an announcement from our president about mobilization.
00:30The first day I did not think that I am going to leave ASAP when so many people were taking
00:37spontaneous decisions because they were basically panicking.
00:40And then I understood that, all right, even if I don't have immediate danger to myself
00:46personally, even if I'm not going to be mobilized any soon, let's say this week or next week,
00:52I might face some troubles leaving the country, let's say after three months or maybe after
00:57half a year.
00:58Apparently right now we see that quite a few people, like a lot of people are getting rejected
01:03to leave the country.
01:04It's already happening in Russia.
01:22I see that people who haven't been to army, people who are quite old or people who have
01:27some health problem, they are also being mobilized.
01:30Some people leave the country.
01:32Some people simply refuse going to recruitment offices, like receiving the letters.
01:36But also there are many more people, like much more people who are receiving these call
01:41to army letters in small towns.
01:44And these people, they just accept these letters and they go and try to be mobilized.
01:49More people in Moscow think about their personal freedoms and the stuff like that.
01:53And more people in provincial places think more of supporting our president and this war.
02:04So that time I had a talk to my girlfriend.
02:08That was a very tough conversation because she couldn't leave as soon as I am.
02:12She didn't want to stop me to leave.
02:14It's just and I and her, we both felt really sad that we are going to have temporary, like
02:21long distance relationship or something like that.
02:24And basically, we were just unhappy that we have such a sudden, spontaneous change in
02:30our plans.
02:31Obviously, she did not try to like make me change my decision, like not at all.
02:37She understood my reasoning.
02:38She understood why I want to leave so fast.
02:41And she says that she supports me fully, like 100% in my decision and hopes that soon we
02:47are going to be able to see each other again.
02:49And after all, I ended up paying like 1500 American dollars for a ticket from Petersburg
02:55here to Turkey, which is like two, three times more than a typical Russian person makes in
03:01a month.
03:01So for most of people, it is a luxury to leave Russia that time taking a flight.
03:06I don't plan to come back to Russia any soon, although I would really like to be back to
03:10my hometown and see my friends and family.
03:13It's possible that they are being called by Russian army someday soon or maybe someday
03:18later.
03:19But most of my friends, like literally the entire circle of my friends, they do not like
03:25they do not want to see this war.