McDonald’s has closed more than 800 restaurants in Russia in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This photo at a McDonald’s in Moscow was taken on March 13, right before it was closed.
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McDonald’s has closed more than 800 restaurants in Russia in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This photo at a McDonald’s in Moscow was taken on March 13, right before it was closed.
AP
Journalist Michele Berdy arrived in Moscow shortly after graduating from Amherst College in 1978.
On March 9, she took a trip out of Russia with a suitcase, her dog Riley, and no idea when – or if – she might return.
“Before I left, I cried 20 times a day. I just couldn’t believe that I was going to have to leave and possibly not come back,” Berdy said.
When Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February, Berdy originally planned to stay and continue working in Moscow Timesan English-language newspaper, whose staff includes both Westerners and Russians.
But she knew it was time to leave a few days later when Russia passed a law that made it possible for anyone who criticizes Russia’s war to face up to 15 years in prison.
“You can’t call it a war, you can’t call it an invasion, you can’t call Russia an aggressor,” she said. “It’s impossible not to break the law and be able to report it. It seems suddenly very dangerous for all of us.”
Apart from a few years in the 1980s, Berdy has lived in Moscow since she graduated from university. She has been seen a lot over the past four decades. The collapse of the Soviet Union, political turmoil, financial crisis – but nothing like this.
“I had three days to figure out what in my life in Russia I could fit in a suitcase and a carry-on bag,” said Berdy, who owns her apartment in Moscow.
“I just moved out of a full apartment,” she added. “How do you leave an apartment in two months or two years?”
She took a truck to Riga, Latvia.
Berdy said: “It costs 100 euros for my dog and 90 euros for me.
American companies depart
Hundreds of American companies suspended operations in Russia, or withdrew altogether. Dale Buckner is helping some of them.
Buckner is the chief executive officer of Global GuardianThe airline chartered four flights from Moscow to Turkey to evacuate American executives, their families and many Russian employees at those companies.
“This is the grim reality. In all of these evacuations, we usually have two, no more than four days warning to tell our customers, ‘You’re leaving. This is the airport. This is your plane. This is your timeline. “This is your destination,” said Buckner, who is based in upstate Washington.
He said Global Guardian has helped more than 2,000 people leave Russia by air and by land. About a third are American and European, the remaining two-thirds are Russian.
He has worked with eight US and multinational companies, though he declined to name them.
Russian authorities do not prevent Russians or foreigners from leaving the country. But, he said, “they’re conducting what they call an interview. You’re being interviewed about who you are, where you’re from, who you work for. Why are you leaving? You’re going to leave?” Where to go? What’s your final destination?”
After evacuating their people, companies want to know how to get their assets out, or at least protect them.
“Companies are struggling with ‘How do I protect sensitive information in my supply chain, my trade secrets,'” Buckner added.
The State Department urged Americans to leave Russia immediately after the war began, citing “potential harassment of American citizens … the Embassy’s limited ability to assist American citizens … restrictions on flights into and out of Russia, and arbitrary enforcement of local laws.”
Foreign Office said it did not have reliable figures on how many Americans lived in Russia before the war, or how many left. But those fleeing are thought to number in the thousands.
By comparison, the State Department estimates more than 20,000 Americans were in Ukraine in the months leading up to the war. Most have left.
The rise of anti-Western attitudes
An American businessman who left Russia shortly after the war started now manages his company’s operations in Russia from Turkey.
The businessman, who asked not to be named out of concern for his own security and that of his employees, said he received letters from Russian employees asking if he could help them find jobs outside of Russia.
In his many years in Russia, the businessman said he has never witnessed such levels of government repression and anti-Western sentiment.
Meanwhile, Michele Berdy plans to stay in Latvia for a while before deciding on her next move. Even if she could eventually return to Russia, she said it would never be the same.
“The worst thing about last week in Russia was the exposure to the alternate reality that my neighbors live in, where they would just say to me, ‘You know, what’s up with President Biden? He won’t leave us in peace,” she said. “I can’t imagine going back and saying, ‘Oh, that’s over.'”
Now Russia faces a reckoning that will be long and painful, she said.
Greg Myre is NPR’s national security correspondent. Follow him @gregmyre1.
