Tolstoy descendant hosts Ukrainian refugees in Switzerland

Anastasia Sheludko narrates the atrocities she encountered before fleeing Ukraine under the watchful eye of a Russian literary genius Leo Tolstoy’s great-granddaughter.

Marta Albertini told AFP that her ancestral nation Russia’s invasion of Ukraine about six weeks ago had come as a huge shock and that she quickly realized she wanted to help refugees.

“It was instinctive,” said the 84-year-old, who is lending Sheludko and her mother an apartment in the small village of Lens, near the plush Swiss Alps ski resort of Crans-Montana.

Before they arrived, Albertini removed most of the family pictures that covered the wooden walls of the apartment, but a large painting of her great-grandfather hangs in the living room.

The author of celebrated novels “War and Peace” and “Anna Karenina” would have viewed the conflict raging in Ukraine with “horror”, she said.

Albertini, who wrote a book about three generations of Tolstoy women last year — her great-grandmother, who delivered the author 13 children, her grandmother, and her mother — noted that he was a well-known pacifist.

Tolstoy, who experienced the Crimean War and the siege of Sevastopol in the 1850s, would likely have been “completely devastated” by what is happening, she said.

‘Against the horrors’

Albertini, who was born in Italy and raised in France before settling in Switzerland a few years ago, claims she is one of several Tolstoy descendants who signed a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin opposing the war.

“We are against the horrors that are being perpetrated now, the invasion of an innocent country,” she said, acknowledging that Putin had quite possibly looked at all the signatures “and thrown them in the trash”.

But it was important to speak up, she said.

“Europe, the world, will not be the same after this war.”

For Sheludko, the world she knew just a few weeks ago has already evaporated.

“Sometimes I think I am dreaming,” she told AFP. “It is surreal.”

On March 13, the 24-year-old and her mother arrived in the breathtaking mountain scenery of Lens, more than a week after fleeing their home in the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv.

They are among the more than 23,000 Ukrainians who have landed in Switzerland since the February 24 invasion, out of a total of 4.2 million who have fled the war-torn country.

Albertini, who lives in a traditional chalet outside of Lens, bought the flat in the town a few years ago for family visits and with the intention of eventually relocating there once she no longer felt secure driving.

A local individual seeking to bring in many Ukrainian families got in touch through word of mouth, and everything was quickly arranged.

Everything changed

Albertini was there when Sheludko and her mother arrived, along with another family that has since moved on.

That first meeting was “very, very emotional”, she said.

Now, more than two weeks later, Sheludko, wearing a grey sweatshirt and large-rimmed glasses, seems to have settled in, and is already attending university classes in the nearby town of Sierre.

She had been studying to be a translator in Mykolaiv, but here, she has reverted back to a study path she left a few years ago.

“So now I am an aspiring IT specialist again,” she said with a laugh.

But her smile fades as she recalls the moment when her “peaceful and normal life” changed.

“Just one morning you wake up because your airport got bombed at 5:00 am… and your life is never the same anymore.”

She and her family had cowered in a basement for 10 days before they saw the chance to drive west, leaving behind her older brother and grandparents.

Reaching Switzerland had been a huge relief, she said, adding that she was grateful for the “very nice, very warm” welcome.

Only later did she realize who her Russian-speaking host was.

Recalling that she had studied Tolstoy in school, Sheludko said being hosted by his descendant was “a great honor”.

Albertini stops her, insisting it is not a question of honor.

“I had this apartment, that allowed me to help. That’s all.”

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