BILLINGS - A Billings man from Ukraine has big plans to bring his son to America.
It’s been about a year since Russia invaded Ukraine and the war has affected former Ukraine citizens, who have made it to America.
Yuri Abramov came to the United States in 1994 and became a citizen in 2005.
He last saw his son Yuri, Jr. 30 years ago.
“It's my son,” Abarmov said as he showed pictures of his son, Yuri Jr. “He lived in Moscow and now he's 36 years old. "He looks like me.”
Yuri Abramov, Jr., who was born in Ukraine, recently escaped Russia and is waiting to get out of Moldova.
“I said please escape from Moscow, from Russia,” Abramov said about a phone call to his son. “Because right now, Russian police arrested young men.”
Yuri, Sr. knows that all of his relatives living in Ukraine have been challenged since the Russian invasion.
“People have no job,” Abramov said. “People have no money. More people go around [neighborhoods] and check garbage [containers] for food. It's a shame and they have no chance to survive.”
Yuri Abramov, Sr. left the U.S.S.R. after spending 12 years in prison for a false charge after writing a letter to the editor that was critical of the government.
“It was my last day in Moscow,” Abramov said while showing a picture. “It's Red Square, and I want to say goodbye Russia forever.”
He knows about the Russian leadership and is not confident about President Putin in the war.
“He's dangerous, dangerous person,” Abramov said. “I call him evil dictator or like evil in human being's body.”
In October, he welcomed his brother Volodymyr Pronin, who he had not seen for 30 years, to Billings.
“It's my dream to bring all family to United States,” Abramov said.
While it can be challenging for his family to come to the U.S. without knowing the language, he wants to help him bring them to Montana.
“I want one by one to help them to move to United States,” Abramov said.
