Sri Lanka ends visas for hundreds of thousands of Russians staying there to avoid war

_xDEADBEEF@lemm.ee to World News@lemmy.world – 147 points –
Sri Lanka ends visas for hundreds of thousands of Russians avoiding war
independent.co.uk
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I visited Sri Lanka a few months ago, I remember visiting Hikkaduwa (a beach town in the south-west) and there were tons of Russian tourists there. All the local businesses had signs in Russran, and some hotels rooms even had Russian flags hanging from the balconies.

I remeber talking to a Belarussian woman who has escaped Belarus when the war on Ukraine started because she was a political dissident and it was dangerous for her to stay. She's been working there as a waitress ever since she arrived.

How did she feel about serving Russian tourists? I mean, not every Russian is pro Putin, let alone pro war. But if you feel the need to hang a freaking flag other than the one of the opposition from your hotel's balcony you probably belong to the ribbon wearing scum.

She described being enraged by them and wanting to strangle them, but then she takes a deep breath and reminds herself that that kind of violent impulse is what wrought this war in the first place, so she tries to avoid that type of thinking