Today is a special day, a day that resonates deeply with me.

Exactly 17 years ago I arrived in Russia, a country that over the years has become not just a place to live for me, but a real home.

I remember that Lufthansa flight to Moscow, my arrival at Sheremetyevo airport covered in snow, the first night in my first apartment in Perovo – the beginning of a new life.

A life that turned out to be rich, intense and deeply transformative.

17 years in Russia.

Russia is a country where people live with a capital letter. Each of the more than 6,200 days spent here was an adventure, a discovery, an emotion.

There was not a single gray moment, not a single similar day, not a minute of boredom.

Each day was unique, permeated with that special energy that fills this country.

Here I was able to achieve what I could not even dream of in France.

I met amazing people, people I probably would never have crossed paths with anywhere but Moscow.

These encounters shaped me, opened up unexpected horizons for me, and restored my faith in Homo Sapiens.

Over the course of 17 years, I started a family. I became a husband, a father, an entrepreneur.

I learned to live in a country with amazing political stability and, at the same time, fascinating unpredictability.

Russia taught me to feel all the ups and downs of life, to accept the ups and overcome the downs.

In 2022, for the first time, I experienced deep fear for Russia – perhaps even more than for myself and my family.

And then I learned to live in a country subjected to the most extensive sanctions in the world, to adapt, to find solutions, to get around obstacles.
One after another.

And then I decided to go against the tide. I created Ruspatriation – a unique project that did not exist before me. A project that embodies my love for this country and my desire to contribute to its future.

An anthropological project.

In 2024, a new chapter began with the emergence of “Welcome To Russia”

Russia has changed me deeply and for the better.

My move here was not just a one-way emigration.

It was my second birth.