Olga Yudina left Russia in June 2022. Journalist, she says she was forced to silence, locked up in a psychiatric hospital after her dismissal from a news agency close to the government. She has found refuge in Niort, and she wants to settle in France, where she hopes to gain asylum.
Olga Yudina was in danger in Russia. Not for his war against Ukraine, but for her work. In June 2022 she fled her country, the one where she was born and raised. A journalist for more than ten years, she found refuge in Niort last week, after having passed through Israel and Paris. Olga is the guest of a craftsman from Niort. At 36, she can now breathe. “I no longer want and can no longer live in Russia”explains.
The journalist’s troubles began in 2021. Olga then worked in Moscow for the Rossia Segodnia news agency, which she described as “very close to the government”. She completed her journalism studies at university, where she also studied French. She writes on cultural, economic and political topics, and does not imagine that her writings could endanger her. In early July, without further explanation, her boss informed her that she had been fired. “I was illegally fired, after which I asked my boss questions, why I was fired, I wanted to find a reason and find a solution”.
I was forcibly taken to a psychiatric hospital, spent more than a month locked up with patients who were really sick.
Olga Yudin
Olga will never have an answer. On July 15, 2021, she says that as she walks by her old workplace, she is forced to get into a car. “I was forcibly taken to a psychiatric hospital, spent more than a month locked up with patients who were really sick,” Olga remembers. She is sure “It wasn’t to help me, but to make me stop asking questions.” She doesn’t know who chose to lock her up, but she wonders: “They could have killed me just to keep quiet, maybe they thought I would stay in this hospital forever.”
When she leaves the hospital, the journalist has empty pockets, but fear in her stomach. Her friends advise her to flee Moscow, she hesitates before accepting. “I left without asking any more questions, I wanted to forget what had happened to me”, says Olga. For a few months, she even thinks that this story is behind her. The reporter gets a job at Forbes magazine, she gets compliments from her bosses on her work. But after six months, in February 2022, she begins to receive “night calls”. At the end of the line, almost every time, a long silence, to scare him.
Anxiety quickly takes over Olga, still traumatized by her enforced stay in a psychiatric hospital. Telephone threats last for months. “I told my bosses about it, but they didn’t do anything”. Worse, overnight, she was fired without explanation, for the second time. “I was just told to leave, and that’s it”, says the refugee. With a heavy heart, Olga understands that she will no longer be a journalist in Russia. In June she takes a plane and in September she reaches Paris.
Last week a Russian friend living in France invited her to come with her to Niort. Thanks to a request for help posted on her social networks, she meets Thierry, a company manager from Niort, who contacts her and kindly offers her accommodation. Since then, Olga has been collecting documents and preparing her asylum application. Very courageous, she insisted that her name be mentioned in this article. She says she never wants to go back to her country ever again. Olga assures him, “I am not sad to have left Russia, but relieved. »
