While war has cast an uneasy shadow over Eastern Europe, the lives of Russians and Ukrainians in the Capital Region remain intertwined, and peaceful.
Anton Konev left Russia in 1997.
The former Albany Common Councilor still has family in the area of Donetsk, which is part of present-day Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine. Konev offers his take on what moved Putin to go to war.
“Putin is flexing his imperial muscle," Konev said. He believes that Ukraine is his fiefdom. And that they need to be part of Russia once again. So it started off with Crimea, went into Donetsk and Luhansk, which are two independent regions, and then somehow, nobody expected this, that about a year ago, he would send troops, stopping shortly before reaching Kyiv, capital of Ukraine, and nobody expected him to annex farther regions than Donetsk and Luhansk, but that's what happened.”
Konev says the folks back home are in shock and want the war to end.
27-year-old Semen Shlokov has been in the U.S. for nearly four months.
Konev interprets on his behalf… Shlokov is a Russian patriot who believes Putin is carrying out genocide against the Ukrainian people.
"My mom and my little brother, are still, may be in Moscow and I have classmates and friends also in both Russia and Ukraine," said Shlokov.
Shlokov's journey to America took a month and a half. The conflict pushed airfare to unaffordable heights in Russia, so Shlokov went by land via train, car and foot.
"They bought train tickets to one of the closest cities to Georgia, crossing into Georgia," Shlokov said. "And then we took a car from that city to a to reach the actual border. It was very difficult because we will stop several times on our way, and the customs people were making fun of us: 'But you're leaving, you're young people, you should be sent to fight for for your country and you're betraying your country.' They left the car and then walked for about six hours to reach the border because of the line of cars, so they had to leave the car, because the line of cars was several days long. They left it and then they walked to the border, crossing the border and then waited in line for aother six hours, and it was like 12 hours to cross the border."
Shlokov was concerned as there was a Russian military vehicle station right next to the border. He later discovered it was a pop-up or mobile drafting station where young men trying to cross the border were diverted to become soldiers. He somehow managed to pass by into Georgia without being stopped, eventually traveling by air to Mexico.
"Later on from the news we did find out that it was a drafting station, a mobile drafting station that they just moved where to draft people straight from the border," Shlokov said. "And we sort of just escaped that, drafting station from drafting us. And then we had to go from Georgia to Mexico, Mexico across the border to detention, three days in the detention. Three days, he was in a border station, and then another four days in detention, so it's like seven days in detention."
Shlokov is in Albany and is currently seeking asylum in the U.S.
Oleg Boguslavskiy was born in Moscow 55 years ago. He left for the United States when Putin took power and has never been a fan.
"From beginning he showed who he is," said Boguslavskiy. "He took all businesses from people. He took all three (TV) channels from people. He destroyed everybody who was against him and right now he's probably like, the richest man in the world. Because all money is going to him. And because he's KGB, from KGB and from Russian criminals, so it's bad, bad mix."
Boguslavskiy has authored anti-war and anti-Putin regime songs.
Now a U.S. citizen, Boguslavskiy says he'll never go back to Russia because he would likely be arrested immediately. Modern technology helps him keep in touch with friends and family.
"I got a lot of friends, a lot of friends, some friends was before, like pro-Putin and after I talked to them a lot and actually, we started going to meetings, you know, and all this stuff so... People who understand what's going on, and they can do anything. That's very bad. We have to talk here too! a lot of people in America, like support Putin too," said Boguslavskiy.
The Albany Tula Alliance is a sister city partnership Albany has had with Tula, Russia since 1991. Since the war began, the alliance has been in limbo. Sonja Stark is the organization's Public Relations Committee Chair and Vice Chair.
"Currently the entire organization is in a weird, in a moment of suspension," Stark said., "We're currently not - a lot of our membership, how do I put this, it's like, between with the seriousness the seriousness of the situation between Russia and Ukraine, very serious, we voted unanimously, unanimously, to suspend all of our activities for the foreseeable future. It's unfortunate, because we were making a lot of progress. Last year was to be our 30th year anniversary. And, you know, we've been dedicated to citizen diplomacy and the collaboration, the dialogue with people into for 30 straight years, and we've made considerable progress, and what we consider a foundation of peace and understanding when it came to differences in culture and tradition. And in different, you know, business expectations and education and health."
Stark says the organization has but a handful of members left and there is concern for the safety of alliance members who live in Tula. She hopes that one day the alliance will again flourish and that it will include Albany's new sister city in Ukraine, Bucha.
Mayor Kathy Sheehan welcomed her counterpart from Bucha, Ukraine to Albany City Hall on February 6th
"What you have experienced and Bucha none of us can fully comprehend," Sheehan said. "You have lost not only property and infrastructure in schools and institutions, but you have lost countless human lives. The war crimes committed by Russia on the good people of Bucha have entered the annals of some of the darkest atrocities of humankind. There is not a mayor in this country who has experienced what you are living. But as the mayor of the capital of the state of New York, I want to assure you that you are not alone. That is why I am signing with you a memorandum of understanding between our two cities to create a bond between us that we hope will lead to brighter days ahead for Bucha."
Fedoruk and Sheehan signed the memorandum after he addressed the gathering, speaking through an interpreter about the war and its challenges.
"And I would like to emphasize once again that this is not the war between Ukraine and Russia but the war between the civilizations which is happening right now in Ukraine, said Fedoruk. "But along with was all along with all of the challenges we are currently facingin Ukraine, it is beyond important for us to establish the relationship between the municipalities from different parts of the world."
Stark is hopeful that Tula, Albany and Bucha can band together - someday - when the war is over.
"We could showcase the relationship between our members and the new sister city, the members of the new sister city, I think we could collaborate and we can show how peace and you know, harmony can coexist in our country. Maybe not so much in theirs but definitely in ours," said Stark.
