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IRevelers swarmed Phuket’s neon-lit Bengal Road just after 11 p.m., although the heady atmosphere was decidedly more Sochi than Southeast Asian. TVs above large beer bars show ice skating instead of football; Cyrillic signs proliferate; Russian-speaking touts hand out fliers for pole dancing clubs featuring women from the former Soviet republic. “Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Kazakhs,” said one tout wearing dark Ray-Bans and a tight Armani polo shirt. “We have them all here.”
The war in Ukraine has caused untold casualties while disrupting markets, disrupting supply chains and causing global inflation to soar. But in Thailand, more than 4,000 miles apart, the two-year conflict has had far-reaching social consequences. While many Western countries have banned Russian air travel over Vladimir Putin’s sweeping invasion of Ukraine, Thailand sees Russian entry as key to reviving its pandemic-ravaged tourism industry. In October, Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin extended 90-day visas on arrival for Russian passports and insisted in an interview in February: “We are not part of the conflict[in Ukraine]. We are neutral.”
read more: 5 takeaways from Time’s conversation with Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin
Last year, Russian tourists topped the list of tourists to Thailand outside Asia with 1.4 million. Meanwhile, Russians topped the overall ranking of the southern resort island of Phuket, which has long been a favorite. Last July, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited Phuket and inaugurated a new consulate in response to a surge in tourist numbers. A month later, the Phuket Tourism Association sent a delegation to St. Petersburg and Moscow, seeking to attract more holidaymakers.
In the first three months of this year, 366,095 Russians arrived at Phuket International Airport, almost double the number in the same period in 2023, transforming business and social life on the island. (That figure does not include people connecting through Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Thailand’s main gateway.) While it’s good for the macroeconomy, the influx has angered locals, who increasingly complain that Russians are grabbing Taking away jobs and disrupting culture. Across Thailand, sensational headlines such as “Rampaging Russians attack Phuket police team after going berserk at city center hotel” and “Russian tourist kicks pregnant Thai woman after being asked to leave shoes outside” were both A symptom and a cause for panic. (However, there has certainly been a surge in offenses involving nationals of New Zealand, Switzerland and Portugal.)
“Russia and Thailand are very different, and sometimes they don’t understand Thai laws and culture,” Lieut. Col. Akachai Siri, chief inspector of the Phuket Tourist Police, told The Times. “Sometimes they break the law, but they don’t acknowledge that we have law enforcement.”
Nonetheless, Russia’s incursion into Thailand appears set to continue. In addition to visa benefits, sanctions on Russian airlines and reciprocal bans on Western airlines have slashed the destinations where Russian nationals can escape the cold winter, making already popular Thailand an easier option. In addition, many are fleeing an economic downturn and a war they had no part in choosing – especially as the Kremlin ramps up conscription amid mounting casualties.
“That was the last straw for us,” Mark said. Safety. “We knew we couldn’t go back because anyone could be drafted and die in the war.”
As a result, the number of Russians choosing to stay in Thailand for the long term has surged. In addition to the 90-day visa on arrival, thousands more are applying for one-year business or education visas. Arnold asked TIME to use only one name for fear of reprisal in his home country. There’s been an increase in the number of people who are doing it. What’s going on at home.”
Rich people are buying luxury cars and yachts and renting or buying villas. Phuket’s luxurious Laguna beachfront complex of villas, an ornamental lake and an 18-hole golf course is now known as “Little Moscow,” said Bhummikitti Ruktaengam, advisory chairman of the Phuket Tourism Association. More than half of the residents on its 1,000 acres are Russian, according to the Laguna Real Estate Management Office, which hired two native Russian speakers to deal with the changing demographics. Bhummikitti said property prices across Phuket have increased by about 20% due to the influx of Russians.
The intrusion has also increased pressure on the Akachai Tourist Police, which has just 60 officers to assist the more than 2,000 regular Royal Thai Police and 60 specialized immigration police in Phuket and neighboring Phayat province. In addition to the surge in tourist numbers, before the pandemic, 60% of tourists were traveling in a group, with tour guides and agents on hand to resolve any issues. Today, 70% are independent tourists, which means that tourist police are increasingly being called upon to Conflicts that require mediation in various ways.
Loose entry requirements also attract criminals. In early February, Phuket police arrested five suspected Russian gangsters who kidnapped a Belarusian couple and extorted more than $800,000 in cryptocurrency, which Akachai said was retaliation for a financial dispute back home. Last month, a 42-year-old Russian man was found stabbed to death in a rental house used as a marijuana farm. The main suspect is a Tajik man who fled Thailand for Turkey hours after the murder.
Yet Akachai said most of the crime was related to illegal work, involving Russians determined not to return home during the outbreak of war but without the means to support themselves indefinitely – especially since international banking sanctions made access to savings more difficult difficulty. Many Russians position themselves as unofficial tour guides, car and motorcycle rental services, real estate agents, hairdressers and even sex workers, advertising online through Telegram groups.
However, not all aspects of this phenomenon are troublesome. In addition to Russians, large numbers of Ukrainians are fleeing the war-torn country for Thailand, which could create a combustible atmosphere. But Akachai said he had not encountered any conflicts or negative incidents between the two ethnic groups in Phuket. Yury Rozhkov, a 46-year-old Russian citizen who works for a travel agency in Bangkok, said he often meets Ukrainians in his apartment building and has very friendly relations.
“They know this is Putin, not Russia, and Russians are different,” he said. “I’m sure Russians who can afford to travel to Thailand will not support Putin and the war in Ukraine.”
In Hua Hin, Arnold is a member of a Russian-language Telegram group with more than 4,500 members from the former Soviet bloc, but he said he could not recall a single political overtone among the 400 or so messages posted each day. news. “99.9% of discussions are about where to find the best pad thai, current prices at the local market, how to rent a car or where to get vaccinated,” he said.
d’Odessa Restaurant is located next to the main entrance of Laguna Phuket Resort and serves Ukrainian cuisine Sirniki Pancakes and smoked salmon croissants covered in gold leaf. The tablet menu has Ukrainian, English and Russian options, with staff saying most customers speak the latter. “There are a lot of Ukrainian restaurants in Phuket filled with Russians,” says Bhummikitti.
Ultimately, both sides involved in this pointless conflict hope to avoid harm by any means necessary. Even though remote working is strictly against company policy, Mark is still employed by his Russian IT company thanks to his understanding boss. He worries every day that a draft ticket or an internal investigation by a top executive could lead to the end of a significant salary. If that happens, “I will try to find local work or other (remote) work in Russia,” he said. “I will do everything I can to prevent myself from going back.”
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