Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said that Russians who left the country due to the Ukraine conflict and spoke out against Moscow should stay away.
Peskov stated that those who fled the country but did not become enemies of Russia should return.
The statement was made during an interview on Thursday with Komsomolskaya Pravda radio.
“I believe that all enemies should stay abroad, and all who are not enemies should return,” the Russian president’s press secretary said, emphasizing that this was his personal opinion.
Peskov’s statement echoes comments he made in March when he said that some of those who left the country “literally took the position of an enemy of their country.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin also weighed in on the issue at the time, saying the attitude towards those who return to their homeland would depend on their actions.
“If in the minds of the overwhelming majority, not some part of some elite, but the overwhelming majority of citizens, a person behaved immorally in relation to Russia, then, of course, he will feel it when he returns here. How else can it be?” he said, adding that anyone who violated laws would face consequences.
Putin’s declaration of a special military operation in February 2022 led many Russians to leave the country. The president’s order for a partial mobilization of reservists in September 2022 also triggered a new wave of departures, with many Russian citizens choosing to go to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia and Armenia, all of which do not require visas for Russians.
Experts say that the relocation process has since slowed down or even reversed. According to various estimates in Russian media, up to half of those who relocated in 2022 have already returned.
Putin has praised the return of business people, entrepreneurs and highly qualified specialists as a “good trend.”