Europe | From the third Rome to the second

Istanbul has become a refuge for thousands of Russians escaping Putin

As in the 1920s, Russians are fleeing south from an oppressive regime

Mar 26th 2022|ISTANBUL

ARSENY, A FASHION photographer, and his boyfriend Vova, a film director, woke up in Moscow on the day Russia invaded Ukraine and realised their country had reached a point of no return. “We had been living a lie,” Arseny says. A few days later, after seeing the streets choked with riot police, they boarded a plane to Istanbul. They and many of their fellow passengers had decided to leave Russia, with little hope of return.

This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “From the third Rome to the second”