I mean this kinda awful. They’re not their government and they clearly don’t want to be part of the war.
But they are racist and have a "white only" policy in a country that isn't even theirs. So why should that country host them?
It comes amid a furious social media backlash over Russian-run businesses with a “whites only” policy that strictly bars locals. These businesses include bars, restaurants, water sports and vehicle hiring services.
Of course not all Russian citizens are racist but there are varying levels of racism, homophobia and bigotry across the globe. Having a whites only policy would fall into that. Not many other countries citizens would be so bold as to do that on another country.
It's really unclear exactly what's going on with that though. I'm morbidly curious to know how it really is.
I mean are their suburbs or areas with signs in every restaurant window saying "whites only!", or was it a once-off altercation between a sri-lankan patron and a russion restauranteur? Probably something in between, but we really don't know where exactly on that spectrum.
Honestly this happens to some extent in any holiday destination in SEA. Obviously it's not as overt as having "Whites Only" signs, but it's not necessarily a Russian thing.
A sign says this is not once off. This is a policy. The fact that the person even thought it was acceptable goes to show institutional racism. Let’s not give the benefit of the doubt to what this clear,y is, but yes, it certain,y is always worth finding all the facts.
I understand their response with this. IIRC Indonesia is having the same problems with Ukrainians and Russians staying in Bali to avoid the war. The situation got so problematic the local government added Russian to their warning signs.
Although the Russians are more problematic since their banks got sanctioned and cannot use Visa networks so they're unable to pull any money from the ATMs and have resorted to taking local jobs and even panhandling there.