Investigation launched into order asking Russians to leave country amid blacklash over ‘whites only policy’
Sri Lanka has told hundreds of thousands of Russians and some Ukrainians staying in the country to escape the war that they must leave in the next two weeks, immigration officers said.
The immigration controller issued a notice to the tourism ministry asking Russian and Ukrainian people staying on extended tourist visas to leave Sri Lanka within two weeks from 23 February.
Just over 288,000 Russians and nearly 20,000 Ukrainians have traveled to Sri Lanka in the last two years since the war began, according to official data.
It’s not just the Russian political elite. On the street interviews and surveys routinely show a majority of Russians support the war in Ukraine. While there is certainly a sizable minority against the war it is still that, a minority.
You think people are being honest when a stranger asks them for their opinion of the war? Someone comes up to you in the street or an unknown number calls your phone and asks a question and you might go to jail for answering wrong…
They don’t seem like reliable numbers.
All true, but propaganda is strong in Russia. Before the war polls still put Putin support in the 80% range. And just as it did in 2014, his polls have only gone up with the war and disapproval has gone down. Some of that, of course, is explained by people masking their true opinion.
That said, I think the more salient point is that people currently seeking refuge from Russia are much less likely to be supportive of Putin and the war.