English-speaking foreigners in Russia are criticizing the US sanctions

VLADIVOSTOK, Apr 22, 2022, Pan Pacific Agency. Many English-speaking foreigners, living in the Primorsky Krai, an eastern Russian region at the border with China, are mostly male English teachers and IT specialists. They do not want to leave Russia, and they do not support the sanctions imposed on Russia by the West, believing that this measures destroys relations between residents of the both sides, the local TV-channel “Vesti-Primorye” reported.

Sean Dennehy, a US citizen, now the resident of the Primorsky Krai, met his future wife Polina from the city of Nakhodka when they were studying together in South Korea. They went to Polina’s homeland, when suddenly the Covid-19 pandemic began and the borders were closed.

The couple got married, bought an apartment, gave birth to a daughter. “I fell in love with this place and decided that I would stay here. I miss my home, but more I miss for the people who stayed there. In the future, I plan to live in Russia and travel,” Sean says. “Sanctions are unfair to ordinary citizens. I don’t agree with them,” he says.

Another American, Floyd Reid, lives in Vladivostok now. He believes that sanctions harm ordinary people. “I think that sanctions are wrong. I don’t believe in mass punishment. If someone did wrong, punish him, not the entire population. Russian citizens have done nothing wrong. Even I am punished. I can’t use my credit cards,” he says.

Floyd’s visa is expiring now, so, he will have to fly to the US. It is not known whether he will be able to return to his family in Russia in this situation, but he says that he loves the Russian Far East with all his heart and dreams of obtaining Russian citizenship.