Friends who emigrated and friends who stayed in Russia found an unusual way to meet

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Friends who emigrated and friends who stayed in Russia came up with an unusual way to meet: on the border between Narva and Ivangorod, with only a 100-meter-wide river between them

Alexander Lukianov left Russia in 2022 and had not seen his friends since. To fix that, they decided to meet on the border between Estonia and Russia, where only a few dozen meters of river separate the two towns.

They chose this far-from-obvious place because it is difficult for Russians to obtain visas to Europe, while meeting in third countries takes a great deal of time.

Alexander flew to Estonia from Berlin. His friends, Gostin and Ira, traveled from St. Petersburg to Ivangorod. Since the town is on the border, they needed a special tourist pass, which took about a month to arrange.

When they met, the friends finally saw and heard each other not through phones, showed each other the posters they had prepared, and took shared photos in which they — naturally! — held one another in the palms of their hands.

It is a very strange feeling. You are incredibly happy to see people close to you, because you have not seen each other for several years. But at the same time, you are standing so close to one another, literally separated by a single river, and yet so far apart that you cannot even simply hug,

Alexander says in his video.

Video: whrwhd / instagram

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