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Poet Captures the Conversations of Russians Fleeing Putin's Regime : Rough Translation Hundreds of thousands of Russians are leaving Russia. They're facing an uncertain welcome abroad. Poet and writer Linor Goralik joins us to read from "Exodus 22," her uncomfortably frank conversations with Russians who – before the war – lived in a Westernized bubble, ignoring the mounting threats of Putin's regime. Then, the bubble burst.

Rough Translation

The Good Russians

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Office workers leave at the end of a working day in a mini business district in central Moscow on March 14, 2019. Mladen Antonov/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Mladen Antonov/AFP via Getty Images

Office workers leave at the end of a working day in a mini business district in central Moscow on March 14, 2019.

Mladen Antonov/AFP via Getty Images

Before the war in Ukraine, many middle class Russians lived in a sort of bubble. They traveled, watched independent media and shared western values. This protective space allowed many to ignore the harsh realities of living under an increasingly repressive regime. But the war forced them to accept that they are living in Putin's Russia.

In this episode we talk to Linor Goralik, a writer and poet who spent years living in this bubble in Moscow, until it burst. And when the war started, she couldn't sit idle. So she followed and documented the Russian exodus as part of a series called "Exodus 22." She flew to Georgia, Turkey and Istanbul to talk to hundreds of people about the complicated feelings that come with being a Russian today.

You can read more about Exodus 22 on Goralik's website and her magazine ROAR.

Send us an email at roughtranslation@npr.org.

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