Hundreds of thousands of Russians have fled the Ukraine war. They are not well received everywhere.
– Every time we get messages about foreigners behaving badly, it’s about Russians.
This quote came from an anonymous official of the local police in Bali CNN.
The popular tourist island of Indonesia has enough Russians and Ukrainians occupying their island. Since the outbreak of war, they have come in droves. Most of them are Russians.
Acts as if the law is not being applied
From September 2022 to January 2023, 77,500 Russians and 8,800 Ukrainians came to Bali, according to Reuters.
Local authorities now want to make it more difficult for Russians and Ukrainians to obtain tourist visas. several media including Reuters And Al Jazeera.
Foreigners act as if the law does not apply to them. This is how it has always been and it must end once and for all, the police official tells CNN.
Ukrainians feel unfair and think they are being beaten with the Russians. According to the Ukrainians on the island, the Russians are responsible for most of the incidents, according to CNN.
– They flock to my mind
According to CNN, the police are particularly reacting to the fact that some people are working illegally as hairdressers, tour guides and unlicensed taxi drivers. Furthermore, reference was made to “bad behavior”, without giving concrete examples. It is also said that many of them have stayed in the country longer than the visa allows.
In Bali, you can obtain a visa upon arrival in the country. This is the opportunity they want to strangle for the Russians and the Ukrainians.
– Since they are at war, they flock to Bali. Bali Governor Wayan Koster said those who come here to relax and those who come to work, according to Reuters.
According to him, they account for a much larger percentage of violations than other tourists. That is why it focuses specifically on Russians and Ukrainians. He asked the Indonesian justice minister for permission to proceed with a bill banning Russians and Ukrainians from visiting the island.
However, Santiago Uno, the country’s tourism minister, told Reuters that so far tourists from Ukraine and Russia do not account for a particularly high percentage of violations.
Sun, beaches and nature
In 2019, the last normal year before the pandemic, the island received 6.3 million tourists.
according to Jakarta Post Tourism accounts for 60 percent of the island’s economy.
It’s the particularly sunny beaches, low housing costs, and wonderful nature that draw travelers to Bali.
Recently, the Balinese authorities announced that they want to ban scooters for tourists, write BBC.
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No less than 500 thousand Russians fled
But very few refugees can afford to get to Bali. More than 8.1 million refugees from Ukraine are registered across Europe, according to the United Nations.
In Russia, more than 500,000 people are recorded as having fled Putin’s war. The number is likely to be higher, possibly as high as a million, according to Washington Post.
Although the war in Ukraine has a lot of support in Russia, many people are fleeing the country. Last year, Aftenposten wrote about how Russia is being drained of wise minds and businessmen. One of the professors said it was the biggest brain drain since the 1917 revolution.
It escalated further this fall when President Vladimir Putin ordered the mobilization of recruits.
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