Buenos Aires, March 1. Maria Konovalova learned that she was going to be a mother in August last year. She then lived in St. Petersburg, gave English lessons to children and was satisfied with her life. Her intention was to continue the pregnancy in Russia, but the “partial mobilization” decreed by the government changed her plans and Argentina crossed her path.
“It was a terrible moment, because my husband went to work in the morning and I didn’t know if I could see him at night. The police were stopping people on the street and sending them away, so we understood that it was hard to live any longer there.” says the 25-year-old girl during a conversation with EFE in Buenos Aires.
Konovalova is one of more than 10,000 Russian citizens who have traveled to Argentina since the beginning of last year; a flow regarded with suspicion by the immigration authorities, who interpret these movements as an irregular method of obtaining Argentine nationality and as a business for the international “mafias”.
ODYSSEY AT THE AIRPORT
After a 26-hour flight from St. Petersburg, Konovalova landed at Ezeiza Airport in Buenos Aires on February 9. At that time, she had no idea that she would spend another 24 hours held in the waiting room, like five other Russians with whom she had only one thing in common: being pregnant.
“The migration agents found it strange that I was traveling alone, as if I wanted to leave my baby here and go back, a story of mafias or something like that (…). After waiting six hours, they gave us a piece of paper that we weren’t admitted with,” she said.
The official version maintains that these women were “false tourists” who traveled for the sole purpose of giving birth to their babies, registering them as Argentines and leaving the country; something that, according to the National Directorate of Migration, supposes a “denaturalization” of the agreement that allows Russians to stay up to 90 days without a visa in Argentina.
In this context, Konovalova and two other Russian citizens contacted Christian Rubilar, a lawyer specializing in Argentine citizenship, who filed a habeas corpus petition to obtain their release and subsequent entry into Argentina.
“What has been achieved in habeas corpus is that pregnant women can no longer be arrested and causes related to international humanitarian law are allowed,” Rubilar told EFE.
BIRTHS ON THE RISE
The detention of these women highlighted the growing arrival of Russian citizens in Argentina as a result of the war: in January this year alone, a total of 4,523 Russians arrived in the South American country, a figure that contrasts with the 1,037 who did. in the same month of 2022, according to official data.
Many of them are 33 or 34 weeks pregnant women looking to give birth in hospitals in Buenos Aires, such as the German Hospital, one of the “preferred” medical centers for Slavic visitors.
“Last year we gave birth to about 30 Russian patients, what is happening is that this year more are coming. It is estimated that there will be more than double the number of women who will come to found their family here,” Matías told EFE. Uranga, head of the obstetrics department at the German hospital.
These women fly to the South American country attracted by the “excellent” quality of its medical services, explains Uranga, who notes the “concern” present in most of them.
“Many women decide to have their families in other countries so that their husbands can escape the war, so they come with a disturbing psychological problem. Not only because of the war, but leaving your country, pregnant, and going into another with another a totally different language of having your child… It’s quite complicated,” she says.
COME TO STAY
After the initial shock in Ezeiza, Maria Konovalova’s experience in Argentina could not have been more pleasant, not only because of the “kindness” and “closeness” of its people – “I will not move from here in seven years”, she underlines – , but for the possibility of living in a freer environment than Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
“I don’t want to think about what’s going on there, because it’s sad, really sad. I want my country to be free and not have the president it has right now; I want the war to end, I want a better life for the Russians. But now I have other things to think about,” Konovalova said, tenderly clutching her stomach.
After months of uncertainty, his story, at least, will have a happy ending. Her partner managed to enter Argentina and together they will be able to raise Aleksard, who will be born at the end of May.
Javier Castro Bugarin