In an effort to remain in Thailand, more than 7,000 Russians have applied to extend their visas on the southern resort island of Phuket.
According to Thanet Sukchai, head of local immigration, the good weather is one of the reasons they want to extend their stay.
He preferred to express a neutral and positive point of view rather than talking about the problem of the war in Ukraine.
See: Thailand, new welcoming land for Russians fleeing war
Thanet added: “Phuket is a lovely place to visit, with delicious food and great weather.
As word spread on the island, Russian tourists continue to come to the province.
“Many get visas to stay on the island for three months or no more than 90 days.
There are also Russian business operators holding business visas.
Russian nationals mainly stay in the districts of Rawai and Chalong.
Thanet revealed that 7,596 Russian nationals are seeking to extend their stay, mainly in Phuket Town and the districts of Thalang and Kathu.
An average of 300,000 foreigners enter the island per month, and this number continues to increase.
While Russians are the number one tourist in Phuket, visitors from India, Kazakhstan, England and Australia follow.
According to Mr. Thanet, 31,128 foreign nationals are seeking to extend their stay in Phuket.
He explains that the immigration police have adapted to the influx of foreign visitors by launching a so-called "white housing" project.
This project offers crime-free and drug-free housing to ensure the safety of both foreigners and residents.
Thanawat Ongcharoen, vice president of the Phuket Tourism Association, says most Russian visitors stay in hotels.
But, he said, others are renting houses, with owners required to report their stay to immigration officials under Thai law.
The Real Estate Information Center of Thailand (REIC) reported that Russian citizens own nearly 40 percent of foreign condominiums in Phuket, collectively worth 880 million baht (23.9 million euros).
In Phuket, Russians have overtaken the Chinese as the top condominium buyers.
The number of Russians in Thailand, especially in Phuket, has increased.
From November last year to January 21 this year, Phuket International Airport reported 233,000 Russian arrivals.
Source: The Thaiger
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5 comments
Hello from Brittany.
I was in Phuket 3 weeks ago and indeed, I saw a lot of Russians there.
According to information read on Google, two-thirds of Russians support the Russian government regarding the invasion of Ukraine.
While their army kills, rapes, murders, and deports civilians, I am appalled to see that these people think about going to sunbathe and have a good time under the Thai sun or elsewhere.
This is all disgusting.
The international community would do well to deny citizens of a belligerent country occupying a sovereign country and instigating a horrible and unjustified war the ability to travel outside their own borders.
Seeing these people, who for the most part support the decisions of an autocratic dictator, give the finger to the international community is more than unbearable.
If these people support their country in its devastating madness, let them go to the front instead of strutting around, getting drunk and gorging themselves in the sun.
In my opinion, Thailand, like all countries with a bit of human conscience, should refuse to welcome tourists to citizens of a country that has unilaterally declared war on another country, and this without base economic considerations.
Unfortunately…
A very naive comment, we must be wary of what the media says about this war.
A Ukrainian official was tasked with launching false stories of rape committed by the Russians, these statements were picked up by all the Western media, but she went so far and without ever providing any proof that even the Ukrainian newspapers stopped taking her seriously.
In every war, there are lies like this on both sides to incite people to take sides, the crimes committed for years by Zelinski against the Russian-speaking Ukrainian populations have been well documented by French journalists, but hidden in the mainstream media.
This war did not happen by chance and it was not the Russians who started it...
Now that the possibility of a third world war can no longer be ruled out, people should become better informed about the ins and outs of this war, which NATO has been preparing for for years.
Yes, we must underline the immense naivety of the French and other Europeans, who lost billions because of the war prepared by the Americans in Ukraine.
Already in 2016, French General Pinatel, a geo-strategist, in an article published in Le Figaro, explained that NATO no longer had any reason to exist, that the organization had not been dismantled because its mission was to create tensions between Europe and Russia.
That if Europe and Russia were allies, they would enrich each other and become more powerful than each other, which was unbearable for the US empire.
He added that the European political leaders who were entering into this game of tension with Russia were either imbeciles... or corrupt.
We know today that they are corrupt, like the mainstream media...
The United States, which took control of Ukraine in 2014, has continued to create tensions in the country by targeting Russian-speaking Ukrainians.
They also promised that they would do everything to prevent the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from being built, and just as it was about to be put into operation, they sent large stocks of ammunition to the Azov Brigades, which had orders to intensify the bombing of civilians and Russian-speaking Ukrainians in Donbass and Donetsk as never before.
Of course, the crimes committed were hidden from the Europeans, like all those committed for years, but for the Russians, it was unacceptable and the invasion announced by Biden, just after the arms deliveries, actually took place.
Then the numerous lies in the media made the uneducated French, incapable of informing themselves, accept the sanctions against Russia, sanctions which made us lose billions and simply forced the Russians to sell their cheap energy to other countries only too happy to profit from the jackpot.
A terrible cost for Europeans and a boon for the USA, which has taken over many markets, such as gas.
And the French also accept that their countries and the EU give billions in weapons to Ukraine so that this war can continue for the misfortune of Ukrainian civilians and the sole profit of the USA...
If there had been no intensive arms delivery, the war would not have lasted long and very few civilians would have been killed.
We can salute the role of Arno Klarsfeld, who, as he himself said, has always supported the USA in all their unjust wars, but who today refuses to participate in the immense lie of saying that the Azov Brigades were nice Nazis or not Nazis at all, while there is no shortage of documentation on this subject...
Finally, the stupidity of the French, their acceptance of this war and the refusal to inform themselves intelligently, means that today, we have the choice, 3rd world war, terrible economic crisis or in the best case, we will be subjected for many years to US banks (like the USA) with an abysmal debt and will continue to let companies like BlackRock and McKinsey control our lives.
Hihihi… I like the explanatory comment from Thanet Sukchai, head of local immigration, who attributes the Russian visa extension requests to the “good weather” in Thailand in general and Phuket in particular!!!
Because before the war in Ukraine, the weather in Thailand was indeed disgusting, it's well known!
And it is obvious that Russians, especially those of an age to be drafted into the Russian Army (including students barely 18 years old) are in a very, very hurry to return to Russia to serve as cannon fodder in the Donbass...
Some Thai personalities have the art of maintaining the culture of the pea in the brain with a degree of naivety bordering on absolute zero IQ...
The worst part is that they don't even realize it and they are convinced that their statements are of a relevance worthy of a Nobel Prize!!!
For the good weather… Yes of course, lol!