Passport burning has become a trend amongst the conflict in Ukraine, and one Russian is on a mission to set his alight – once he’s done in Ukraine, that is
When he gets home, Vladislav Davidzon is going to burn his Russian passport. A journalist, with a Ukrainian wife, Vlad travelled to his adopted homeland when he first heard that conflict was likely. He has spoken out openly against Putin on international news channels, and as a result – fears for his life.
“[The Russians] can kill me,” he says, unflinching. “I think of myself as Ukrainian now, these are my people.” He refuses to return to Russia until Putin’s regime has fallen. Some of Vlad’s family understand, others have been “corrupted”, he says. “There’s a real lack of information in Russia about what’s going on here [in Ukraine]. They still refer to it as a ‘military operation’ instead of a war. Good people are being corrupted by propaganda.”
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Vlad, 36, is not alone in his desire to rid himself of his Russian identity. On Tuesday, activist Anna Jakubova burned her passport in front of cameras at a solidarity rally in Edinburgh. TikToks of protestors in Los Angeles burning their Russian passports have over 800,000 views. The gesture has also been documented in London, Berlin, Georgia and Tel Aviv.
Vlad’s wife Regina, who is Ukrainian, was the first person to suggest it to him, hours after Putin brutally invaded the country she was born in. She has asked him to burn his Russian passport as soon as he returns to their home in Paris.
“As soon as I get back into my apartment I’m going to grab my passport, take a taxi over to the Russian embassy and film myself burning it. I’m not Russian anymore, I’m Ukrainian, these are my people.”
Not only is Vlad proud of Ukraine’s fighting spirit – so far only the city of Kherson has officially fallen to Russian troops, but he is also a fan of the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose strong leadership has been praised around the world.
Zelenskyy was considered something of a joke when he was elected, an ex-actor and comedian just trying his hand at politics. And now, “He’s a hero,” says Vlad. “People voted for a mix of Benny Hill and Boris Johnson and what we got was Churchill.” And as for Putin: “He’s becoming more and more like Hitler,” Vlad shares. “He’s become something we say in Russian – нерукопожатный (rukopozhatiy) – it means ‘un-handshakeable’, so civilised people don’t offer that person their hand, they don’t sit at the same table with them.”
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Vlad’s transformation from born and bred Russian to proud Ukrainian means that he is even more critical of Russia than ever before – and it’s not just limited to Putin. “This is about the Russian states. This is about the Russian government. This is about the Russian army. And to a certain extent, this is about the Russian people who are not coming out [in support of Ukraine].”
Vlad believes everyone in the country has a part to play, or they effectively become complicit. “I’ve seen some protesting, perhaps in thousands, but not hundreds of thousands, as it should be.
“People say, ‘Well the Russian population is afraid’, but here if a door slams you think it’s a rocket attack. Ukrainians are no longer afraid of the police or spending a night in a jail cell. We’re afraid of losing our loved ones. We’re afraid of getting blown up.”
