On the eve of Valentine’s Day, two Russian newlyweds are waiting for a reunion

(Reuters) – They planned to get married in Russia, ended up tying the knot in Georgia, but will still end up in different countries on Valentine’s Day.

Alexander and Varvara – two Russians who asked not to be named by their full names – were forced to come up with a new wedding plan after President Vladimir Putin announced last September that 300,000 people would be mobilized to support Russia’s waning military effort in Ukraine.

Alexander, who was on a business trip in Estonia at the time, decided not to return to Russia after the authorities sent him a draft notice.

“We had a wedding planned in Kronstadt (near St. Petersburg) in November, but I didn’t come to my own wedding,” he said.

Then the couple considered getting married in Estonia, where Alexander was born and has permanent resident status, but Varvara failed to get a visa.

Undaunted, last month they traveled separately to the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, where they were able to get married in the presence of Sasha – Varvara’s daughter from a previous marriage – and two witnesses they had never met before.

It all took only 24 hours. “It’s like in Las Vegas here,” Alexander joked. “You can do it all in one day.”

Then they had to separate again. Varvara returned to St. Petersburg, where she works in the film business. Alexander, a furniture maker, returned to the capital of Estonia, Tallinn, where he spent the night in the workshop where he works in order to save money.

It is planned that Varvara and Sasha will apply for humanitarian visas to join Alexander in Estonia. But even this will take time, Varvara said, since a lot of issues related to documents, work and housing need to be resolved.

“We don’t think we’ll be able to meet again until the summer,” she said during a video call.

(Reuters reporting; text by Mark Trevelyan; editing by Kevin Liffey)

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