Much of Russia’s intellectual elite has fled the country

On a recent warm and breezy Saturday night a few dozen Russians—mostly in their 20s and 30s—crammed into a small Soviet-era apartment in Vakke, a well-heeled part of Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital and, for now at least, their new home. While thousands of their compatriots were enjoying Georgian food and wine in street cafés and Russian-speaking bars, they huddled around a projector, holding what they described as a “home conference”.