The russian activist who fell in love with a ukrainian in A Coruña exile

She works cooking pulpo á feira (market-style Galician octopus), monkfish seafood medley, and baked scallops. He has just traveled across the region as a sound technician for summer street festivals (verbenas). They could be any pair of lovebirds from any Galician province, and their relationship would hardly even be a charming anecdote. However, the story of Iuliia Perevalova and Artemio Matiokva would not only be a box-office guarantee on screen, but it also serves as a reminder—and no trivial one at that—that love, in its broadest sense, continues to transcend borders.

She is Russian and he is Ukrainian; falling in love was the last thing on their minds when they arrived in A Coruña. In fact, each of them had enough on their plate just finding shelter and freedom. They have been together for less than a year, but they are clear about their desire to build a shared future in this city, where, like so many young people, they are searching for a decent rental home. For now, it remains elusive. «Even though we both have contracts», Artemio points out.

No matter how hard the housing crisis hits, they look back on their past lives as a nightmare they have no wish to return to. Even less so now that, by a stroke of fate and the click of a button, they have met each other. Social media brought together the paths of Iuliia and Artemio, which in reality had already crossed earlier due to geopolitical circumstances. Both arrived in Spain fleeing a war that has lasted over four years, «but has failed to break the feeling of unity that Russians and Ukrainians share», says Iuliia.

A painter and cook at a restaurant in downtown A Coruña, this young woman born in Tyumen (Siberia) had no choice but to distance herself from her family. For years she was part of the opposition movement led by Alexei Navalny, but in 2021, following the politician's poisoning and subsequent arrest, Iuliia began fearing for her life. «I did grassroots street activism, engaged in campaign work, and took part in rallies, in addition to writing my own political blog. I was completely tied to Navalny's name, and Putin's government warned us that we would end up in prison». She continues: «I left the country and never returned; I traveled through countries like Brazil and Turkey, but nowhere have I felt as at home as here».

Now, in fact, she hopes her mother and nephew can follow in her footsteps in a few months. «He is turning 18 and is terrified of being drafted into combat», she explains. Her father, meanwhile, will remain in Russia. «He supports Putin and doesn't want anything to change, but I try not to talk politics with him».

Someone she does discuss world affairs with is Artemio. Both share the view that «a political conflict cannot tear our peoples apart. Besides, here in Galicia I have never met a pro-Putin Russian. In fact, I see that they long for peace just as much as we do; thinking otherwise is quite xenophobic», he notes.

Artemio has spent about three years in Galicia, working remotely as a composer for a Ukrainian firm and also as a sound technician for traveling dance orchestras (orquestas). When he arrived in A Coruña, thanks to a Red Cross program, he learned Spanish alongside Mustafá, a Moroccan man with whom he took up fishing at the Oza pier area. «He's been in Spain for twenty years, works, pays his taxes here, he's a great guy. I think of him when I see what is happening in Ceuta and it breaks my heart, because the most important thing is that we as human beings never lose our ability to talk to one another», he reflects.

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