From Climate Activist to Stateless: The Story of Arshak Makichyan

Last summer, I stumbled upon an Instagram post, which immediately sparked my interest. 

It consisted of several photos of a Russian passport. A rainbow flag was painted on the cover of it, the sayings “Fuck the War” and “Russia betrayed Armenia and Artsakh” were written on the pages inside. I had to know; what was the story behind this vandalised passport?

The passport formerly belonged to climate and anti-war activist Arshak Makichyan, until he auctioned it off and donated the money to war-torn Ukraine.

Arshak Makichyan was born in Armenia in 1994, but moved with his parents to Russia’s capital, Moscow, in 1995. In the early 90s, Armenia was torn apart by the first Nagorno-Karabakh war, which resulted in many leaving the country.

Arshak grew up in Moscow, where he studied the violin at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory. A career path he later gave up on in order to focus solely on climate and anti-war activism. 

Inspired by Greta Thunberg, he led Russia’s first Fridays for Future movement, striking every friday for over 100 weeks. Arshak spoke out about climate and human rights violations in the country.

He lives by the quote: “Resistance is a duty not a crime”. After the invasion of Ukraine, he spoke out against the war, which resulted in him having to leave the country he called home. In the end, he was stripped of his Russian citizenship. 

Foto: Arshak Makichyan

Russia’s hidden crisis

While at university, Arshak decided to develop his English skills. Learning the English language widened his access to international news outlets. Suddenly, he had access to other media than Russian ones, which often contain propaganda and are written by a strong pro-Russian narrative. 

On Twitter, he started following Greenpeace, which ultimately inspired him to become a climate activist. The climate crisis was not a topic covered in Russian media, so he decided to talk about it.

Vladimir Putin’s regime does not tolerate critical voices and tries to silence those who dare to speak up. This didn’t stop Arshak, and as he told me, when we facetimed a few weeks ago: “If you stay silent, you are even more vulnerable to the state.”. 

By vocally speaking up on serious issues such as human rights violations and the climate crisis, Arshak became a threat to the Russian state. 

At the beginning of 2019, Arshak started protesting. This was after he had learned how severe the climate crisis had gotten in the regions outside the big cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg.

The air is extremely polluted in those regions. For almost 3 years, the people of Arkhangelsk in northern Russia protested against a garbage dump in the region, which would hold trash from people living in Moscow. 

The people of Arkhangelsk were scared that the dump would contaminate the water resources in the region. They would have paid the price for the privileged people of Moscow’s high consumer lifestyle. Arshak participated in the protests as well. During those years, several activists experienced police violence. Others were detained.

The temperature is rising 2.5 times faster in Russia than in the rest of the world. Russia is known for its extreme gas and oil export, which is extremely harmful to the climate. The climate crisis is extreme, but the regime tries to keep attention away from the topic. 

An Enemy of the State

Protesting in a country that forbids protests of more than one person is tough. Anyone who does it anyways is in danger of getting harrassed by police and even risks being detained. 

At the beginning of 2019, Arshak was part of a “mass protest” in a park, where around 40 people striked that day. It was a global strike for the climate.

Later, Arshak protested every Friday on Pushkin Square, a big open space in Moscow where masses of people walk by every day. He often stood there with a cardboard sign reading “забастовка за климат” (“strike for climate”). Slowly, people started to join him in his battle for a green future. It was not him protesting alone anymore, but others had followed and the movement grew. 

They became an eyesore to the Russian regime. “They were scared of us, because we connected the climate crisis to human rights”, Arshak mentions when he talks about the threats he received from the Russian authorities, who tried to frighten him and his fellow activists. 

In a country like Russia, anyone who openly talks about human rights violations is an enemy of the nation.

Foto: Zhanna Ismailova

In October of 2019, he attended COP25, the world’s most important climate conference, in Madrid. There, he spoke out about the effects of climate change in Russia and the importance of taking care of the environment.

Following his participation in COP25 and further climate protests, Arshak was detained by the Russian authorities in December 2019. For 6 days, he had to serve in detention. This is a mild punishment in a dictatorship like Russia. 

Due to him being internationally known, he was in some way protected. He had gotten too famous. For Russia, it would have been a bad look if they had put one of their only climate activists in jail for ten years. 

Things got serious after the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Arshak spoke out against the war, condemning the crimes of his home country.

He walked around in a shirt with the words “FUCK THE WAR” written on it. But life got too dangerous in Russia. He could be drafted into the military at any time. Having to fight in a war he doesnt support.

So Arshak fled, leaving his old life behind, and moved to Berlin, where he still lives in exile. In the summer of 2022, the Russian authorities started a court case against him. They accused him of having provided false information when he first applied for Russian citizenship.

At that time, Arshak was 10 years old. The case against him went on for several months until the court made the final decision to deprive him of his Russian citizenship in February 2023. Stateless became a new adjective to describe him.

Several of his family members were deprived of their citizenship as well. His brother, an upcoming musician, was stopped by Russian authorities while on the way to one of his concerts.

Foto: Lukas Stratmann

Losing one identity, finding another

During the last year, Arshak has developed a stronger connection to the land of his ancestors, Armenia. His mother’s family is from Nakhichevan, now occupied by Azerbaijan, and his father has roots from Western Armenia, which is now a part of Turkey. 

In December of 2022, the Armenian region of Artsakh (internationally known as Nagorno-Karabakh) was put under a blockade by the Azerbaijani government. They claim that the region belongs to them, even though Armenians have been living there for centuries. 

During the blockade, the Artsakh-Armenians couldn’t leave the region since the Azeri military blocked the only road between Armenia and Artsakh. They barely had any access to food, medical supplies, gas, and electricity. 

On the 19th of September 2023, all citizens of the region were forcibly displaced after Azerbaijan started a full-scale military invasion. They all lost their homes. It was yet again an episode in history, where Armenians were deported from their own land. 

Arshak could relate to them because at that time he was also losing his home. A part of his identity. Following the blockade, Arshak has spoken up about the Armenian struggle, both online and on the streets.

He organizes protests for the release of Armenian prisoners of war and for the recognition of the Armenian genocide of 1915. On social media, he talks about Armenian issues and what is happening inside Armenia. After losing his Russian identity, he gained a new one. 

An Armenian identity. 

The Fridays for Future movement is more or less dead in Russia now. Activists fear for their lives, and many of the past activists have fled the country. The opposition is silent. Critical voices are too scared to speak up. Russia is becoming more and more like North Korea.

This was the story of Arshak Makichyan. This was the story behind the Russian rainbow passport.

Foto: Arshak Makichyan

Tekst: Thea Jürgensen

Redaktør: Rosa Bundgaard-Laursen