My Christmas story. A little about risk-taking, managing chaos, and entrepreneurial skills

I think the beginning of this story for me was the morning of February 24, 2022. I read the morning news on my smartphone that Russia was bombing Ukraine. It was a shock. It was clear that the country I lived in and loved no longer existed. All the work and efforts were destroyed by a mad dictator. Yes, I understand that the Ukrainians who woke up to bomb explosions had it much worse. But someone else's grief doesn't make your own any easier.

At that time, my family - both my wife and I - already had experience of participating in resistance to the illegal actions of the Russian state. And it was very clear to us that of the real options for peaceful protest, only one remained - emigration. We would have to break off many friendships, leave the house we had been building for 20 years. But we didn't see any other way to preserve our own identity and not become accomplices in crimes. Besides, my son is now 17 years old and I don't want the crazy state to pursue him to send him to a criminal war and kill him there.

The main emigration option I considered was to become a digital nomad. First I studied the legislation of Hungary, but the program there was designed for singles, and I had to go with my family. That's why I chose Croatia - there are quite loyal requirements for digital nomads and for family reunification, it seemed to me. My mistake was misjudging the time factor. I applied for digital nomad status too early and did not take into account the peculiarities of the Croatian bureaucracy. As a result, my nomad status was approved in March 2023, and I was able to obtain a D visa only at the end of July 2023. As for documents for family reunification, they can be submitted only through the Croatian consulate in Moscow, and the waiting list for receiving documents is at least one and a half months. We submitted our documents in June 2023.

Croatia has strange legislation regarding digital nomads. This status is only granted for 1 year, after which you have to leave the country for at least 6 months. It was necessary to look for an alternative option for emigration. A startup in Spain became such an option for me. My friends Pavel Orlov and Mariia Orlova are excellent veterinarians and founders of their own clinic. Their ideas and my experience in venture capital became the basis for the veterinary e-health startup Veeeet . We did all the necessary desk and field research, developed a business model, thought about monetization and wrote a business plan. In May 2023, I uploaded all the documents and three months later we received a letter from Spain informing us that our project had been approved! The future became more certain.

We planned that I would be the first to go to Croatia, get an ID, rent an apartment and wait for the family reunification documents to be ready. Then we would load our things and dogs into our van, arrive in Croatia (from St. Petersburg, Russia), and have time to calmly prepare for the start of our project in Spain. It seemed like a good plan, but everything went wrong.

In September 2023, we received an e-mail from the Croatian authorities stating that in order to make a decision on family reunification, they needed additional documents that could only be submitted through the Embassy in Moscow. Let me remind you that the first set of documents for the family was submitted for consideration in June. Besides, the queue for registration at the embassy is at least a month long. And in February 2024, the year for which I was granted permission to stay in Croatia as a digital nomad, is already coming to an end. We don't have time.

And in September, the borders of EU countries were closed to cars with Russian license plates. From Finland to Bulgaria. This allegedly violates sanctions against Putin. Well, yes, by emigrating from Russia I violate sanctions. Complete nonsense. It was impossible for us to fly by plane. Our dogs are members of our family, we cannot leave them. And they are big dogs. Irish Wolfhounds cannot be transported by air. Too much stress and the dog may not survive. Now, in addition to this, my wife and son cannot enter the EU by road on a regular Schengen visa. Why not? Yes, because it is too much of a privilege for Russian citizens. This was decided by one of the politicians in Latvia or Estonia.

As a result, the family council developed a new evacuation plan from Russia, as reliable as a Swiss watch:

1. My wife and son, having packed our entire lives into two suitcases, will fly from Russia to Milan. A 15-hour layover in Istanbul is a minor inconvenience.

2. I am also coming to Milan from Croatia. We meet and take a bus to Munich, Germany.

3. From Munich we go to Ingolstadt, where we buy a car (chosen on the Internet) with my Croatian ID.

4. We drive an unknown used car from Ingolstadt (Germany) to Narva (Estonia). Only 2100 kilometers.

5. The Estonian-Russian border is open for holders of a European residence permit. That's why I cross the border on foot with my Croatian permit and pick up the dogs in Russia that my friends will bring there. With the dogs I cross the border again in the opposite direction.

6. We load the dogs into the car and drive to Spain. (about 4000 kilometers)

What could go wrong?

We got the wrong documents to buy a car in Germany and then they sent us the missing documents. They refused to change our summer tires to winter tires in Lithuania (the air temperature was minus 1 degree Celsius, there was ice on the road). I waited three and a half hours for the documents to be processed at the customs in Estonia. Together with the dogs. Along the way, I had to correct mistakes our agent made when submitting documents to the Spanish immigration. We all had colds (one after the other, including the dogs).

But we made it. We are all alive and well. We found and rented an apartment in the very beautiful town of Guardamar del Segura. The owner of the apartment agreed to let us and the dogs in (it was not easy). We have already submitted the documents and are waiting for our Spanish IDs to be issued. My wife, Natalia Gusakova , continues to improve her skills as a UI/UX designer - this will be useful for our startup. My son is currently studying remotely, but we are planning to enroll him in a Spanish school. And I can go back to doing the work I love. And I no longer have to worry about how to log in to Linkedin. (LinkedIn is considered extremist in Russia and is blocked. Sounds like nonsense, but it is true). We're doing ordinary things, solving ordinary problems, and it's very cool. That is what peace is.

I think this story was one of the greatest adventures of my life. The fact that everything ended well, that the family and the dogs are together and safe - this is a great Christmas happy ending. And another important conclusion - skills in the field of venture entrepreneurship are an asset that can really help in any, even the most difficult situations.

My dream is that next Christmas will be peaceful for Ukraine and Russia, and the crazy politicians who started the criminal war will be punished according to the law.