In response to the war, Americans flee Russia in droves

In response to the war, Americans flee Russia in droves

　　Transcript¹

　　Journalist Michele Berdy arrived in Moscow shortly after graduating from Amherst College in 1978.

　　On March 9, she caught a ride out of Russia with one suitcase, her dog Riley, and no idea when — or if — she might return.

　　"Before I left, I cried 20 times a day. I just could not believe that I would have to leave and maybe not come back," Berdy said.

　　When Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, Berdy initially² planned to stay put and keep working at The Moscow Times, an English-language newspaper, where the staff includes both Westerners and Russians.

　　But she knew it was time to leave a few days later when Russia passed a law saying anyone criticizing the Russian war could get 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 the aggressor," she said. "It would be impossible to not violate the law and to be able to report. It just seemed suddenly it was very dangerous for all of us."

　　Aside from several years in the 1980s, Berdy has lived in Moscow since she got out of college. She's seen a lot over the past four decades. The collapse³ of the Soviet⁴ Union, political chaos⁵, financial meltdowns — but nothing like this.

　　"I had three days to just figure out what of my entire life that I had in Russia I could put in a suitcase and a take-on bag," said Berdy, who owns her apartment in Moscow.

　　"I just left a full apartment," she added. "How do you leave an apartment for two months or two years?"

　　She caught a van to Riga, Latvia.

　　"It cost 100 euros for my dog and 90 euros for me," Berdy said.

　　Americans companies depart

　　Hundreds of American companies have either suspended operations in Russia, or are pulling out altogether. Dale Buckner is helping⁶ some of them.

　　Buckner is the CEO of Global Guardian⁷, which has chartered four flights out of Moscow to Turkey to evacuate⁸ American executives, their families, and many Russian employees at those companies.

　　"Here's the gritty reality. In all of these evacuations, we've typically had two, no more than four days of warning to tell our clients, 'You're leaving. This is the airport. This is your aircraft. Here's your timeline. Here's your destination," said Buckner, whose company is based in suburban⁹ Washington.

　　He says Global Guardian has helped more than 2,000 people leave Russia by air and by road. About one-third are Americans and Europeans, the other two-thirds are Russians.

　　He's worked with eight U.S. and multi-national companies, though he declined to name them.

　　Russian authorities are not preventing Russians or foreigners from leaving the country. But, he said, "they're now conducting what they're calling interviews. You're being interviewed on who you are, where you're coming from, who you work for. Why are you departing? Where are you headed? What's your final destination?"

　　After evacuating¹⁰ their people, companies want to know how to get their assets out, or at least safeguard them.

　　"Companies are struggling with, 'How do I protect that sensitive information of my supply chain, my trade secrets," Buckner added.

　　The State Department urged Americans to leave Russia shortly after the war began, citing "the potential for harassment¹¹ against U.S. citizens ... the Embassy's limited ability to assist U.S. citizens ... limited flights into and out of Russia, and the arbitrary enforcement of local law."

　　Several Americans are being detained or jailed in Russia, though the cases reported publicly took place before the war began. Among those held is Brittany Griner, the WNBA star who was arrested at a Moscow airport last month and has been accused of smuggling¹² vape cartridges¹³ containing hashish oil into the country.

　　The State Department says it doesn't have reliable figures on how many Americans were living in Russia before the war, or how many have left. But those who fled are believed to be in the thousands.

　　By comparison, the State Department estimated more than 20,000 Americans were in Ukraine in the months leading up to the war. Most have left.

　　A rise in anti-Western attitudes

　　One American businessman who left Russia shortly after the war began is now managing his company's operations in Russia from Turkey.

　　The businessman, who asked not to be named out of concern for his security and that of his employees, said he's getting letters from Russian employees asking if he can help them get jobs outside Russia.

　　In his many years in Russia, the businessman said, he's never seen such levels of government repression¹⁴ and anti-Western sentiment.

　　Meanwhile, Michele Berdy plans to stay in Latvia for a while before deciding on her next move. Even if she can go back to Russia eventually, she says it will never be the same.

　　"The worst part of that last week in Russia was the having contact with that alternate reality that my neighbors were living in, where they would just say to me, 'You know, what is wrong with President Biden? He won't leave us in peace,'" she said. "I just can't imagine going back and, and saying, 'Oh, well, that's over now.'"

　　Russia now faces a reckoning, she said, which will be long and painful.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

3 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

4 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

5 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

6 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

7 guardian   

n.监护人；守卫者，保护者

参考例句：

• The form must be signed by the child's parents or guardian. 这张表格须由孩子的家长或监护人签字。
• The press is a guardian of the public weal. 报刊是公共福利的卫护者。

8 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。

9 suburban   

adj.城郊的，在郊区的

参考例句：

• Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
• There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。

10 evacuating   

撤离，疏散( evacuate的现在分词 )； 排空（胃肠），排泄（粪便）； （从危险的地方）撤出，搬出，撤空

参考例句：

• The solution is degassed by alternately freezing, evacuating and thawing. 通过交替的冻结、抽空和溶化来使溶液除气。
• Are we evacuating these potential targets? 能够在这些目标地域内进行疏散吗？

11 harassment   

n.骚扰，扰乱，烦恼，烦乱

参考例句：

• She often got telephone harassment at night these days.这些天她经常在夜晚受到电话骚扰。
• The company prohibits any form of harassment.公司禁止任何形式的骚扰行为。

12 smuggling   

n.走私

参考例句：

• Some claimed that the docker's union fronted for the smuggling ring.某些人声称码头工人工会是走私集团的掩护所。
• The evidence pointed to the existence of an international smuggling network.证据表明很可能有一个国际走私网络存在。

13 cartridges   

子弹( cartridge的名词复数 )； （打印机的）墨盒； 录音带盒； （唱机的）唱头

参考例句：

• computer consumables such as disks and printer cartridges 如磁盘、打印机墨盒之类的电脑耗材
• My new video game player came with three game cartridges included. 我的新电子游戏机附有三盘游戏带。

14 repression   

n.镇压，抑制，抑压

参考例句：

• The repression of your true feelings is harmful to your health.压抑你的真实感情有害健康。
• This touched off a new storm against violent repression.这引起了反对暴力镇压的新风暴。