Arkadiy Paserba lives in Spokane, where he works for the International Rescue Committee. But just a couple of years ago, he lived in Russia, where he worked with noted opposition leader Alexei Navalny and others to challenge President Vladimir Putin and his authoritarian regime.
Because of his opposition to Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Paserba said he was arrested more than once and frequently intimidated by police.
The continuing threat prompted Paserba to send his children to the United States in the spring of 2022. He and his wife Svetlana followed later that year, requesting political asylum.
In a recent conversation with Spokane Public Radio, Paserba said he was shocked by Navalny’s death in a Russian prison in March. He thinks Navalny’s passing leaves Russia without an effective opposition movement to counter Putin’s regime. Putin, initially named interim president upon Boris Yeltsin’s retirement in 2000, was recently inaugurated for a sixth term in office.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022 marked the beginning of an upswing in harassment of opposition figures, even for people like Paserba, who was never a visible leader like Navalny, but rather a “simple soldier” in the movement. The crackdown fractured Paserba’s social and political connections.
“A lot of people have left. A lot of people are in prison,” Paserba said. “A lot of people were arrested, like me. A lot of people feel persecutions.”
More Russians may follow Paserba’s path out of the country to Europe and North America. People who had previously believed Putin’s authoritarian style would cure itself got a harsh awakening in the wake of the Ukraine invasion.
“After the beginning of the war, a lot of people understood, really, that Putin’s regime is anti-humanitarian. That our president is really mad. A crazy person,” Paserba said.
Not everyone has the money, documentation and connections to get out of Russia, he said, but many are thinking hard about the risks involved with remaining in the country.
Paserba and his family have applied for American citizenship. The process is slow, he acknowledged. The family’s first hearing before an immigration court in Seattle was a year ago; their next one is scheduled for 2025.
“So we have a wait,” Paserba said. “But we don’t only wait.”
His seventeen-year-old twins are finishing their studies at Ferris High School while earning college credits under the Running Start program at Eastern Washington University. Paserba recently completed a project management certification program at Spokane Community College, and Svetlana is close to finishing her SCC medical assistant training.
Paserba continues speaking out against Putin through social media. Svetlana counsels him not to court too much scrutiny from Russian officials, but Paserba said he feels compelled to advocate for the principles he believes in.
“My wife asks me, maybe every day, ‘Are we in safety here?’” Paserba said. “But I think whatever will be, will be.”
Paserba said he would conduct himself the same way whether in Russia or in Spokane.
“I like freedom. I like honest people. I believe in these values,” Paserba said. “And I try to provide these ideas, these values, in all my life. So whether I am afraid or not afraid, scared or not scared…it doesn’t make sense for me.”
