Mika does not plan to stay in Germany. The 30-year-old Muscovite, who chose a pseudonym, came to Berlin in September to celebrate his birthday with a friend who lives in the German capital. “I took a small bag, a shirt and this jacket,” he explains, as the city begins to get colder. Sitting in a cafe, the French-speaking young man describes how his life “suddenly changed” on September 21 when Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a partial demobilization. That day, Mika was on a flight to Geneva, from where he planned to fly to Istanbul and Moscow. “This mobilization surprised me a lot, because taking such a decision means that Putin’s plans are not working,” says Mika. “I immediately understood that if I returned to Moscow, I could no longer return to the EU. So I had to decide in a split second whether to stay or leave,” he says calmly. “I cannot go back to Russia, because I do not support the war, I do not support Putin,” says this Muscovite, who has worked for years with French and Italian companies and Ukrainians. “On February 24 (during the invasion of Ukraine), I said to myself: it’s impossible,” he adds.
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