Second Take- The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming.....
Wait a minute..... they're here, they're here " Our president has opened the door to hell," angrily spoken by one of my co-workers at National Cinema. Anoush, a mid 50s established film historian and archivist from St. Petersburg, left Russia in March because of the "war" and the economic downturn. She said a number of her friends have been arrested and are now in prison, I didn't ask why they were in prison but an educated guess is they spoke out against the war or are gay / lesbian. During my four months in Yerevan I've met as many Russians and Russian Armenians as I have Armenians. A t the start of the war t he first wave of Russians arrived in Yerevan and presently the second wave of Russians are continuing to arrive, in all around 140,000 have immigrated to Armenia. Yerevan's population is 1,090,000 so the increase is significant. Russians, like Americans & Europeans, can stay in Armenia for 180 days without a visa. To renew the 180 ...