Even before Russia's all-out invasion of Ukraine, Pyotr, a programmer from a northern region in Russia, felt things in the country were going badly. He and his wife decided to leave just before February 24, 2022 -- the start of the full-force onslaught.
"The situation in Russia was very scary. It felt like something bad was brewing," he told RFE/RL's Russian Service.
Like many who fled, Pyotr, who asked not to use his full name or that of his wife or their home regions, traveled first to Turkey, then to Georgia, and then, as newcomers pushed up rents and costs of living, moved to Thailand. Eventually, they returned to Tbilisi, the Georgian capital.
"We would like to stay here. Georgia is somehow close to our spirit: a sort of freedom," he said.
Nearly three years into the war, hundreds of thousands of Russians remain outside their home country, having fled to escape either war or political repression or both. While some have reluctantly returned home, others have struggled to rebuild lives as digital nomads or outright political refugees.
Research by The Bell, an online news site, published last July found that around 650,000 Russians remain abroad.
That's a drop from higher numbers -- around 1 million, by some estimates -- that occurred during two waves of migration: first in the months immediately following the February 2022 invasion, and second following President Vladimir Putin's mobilization announcement in September of that year.
Aside from Georgia, where Pyotr and his wife moved, the other countries were most Russians ended up were Armenia, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan.
Surveys conducted by sociologists at several European universities over the first two years of the invasion found a majority of those who fled Russia were politically engaged, had higher education, and were better off financially than average Russians. Emigres were also largely between 20 and 40 years old, and many either owned their own businesses or worked in technology or design and creative fields.
Marina, a business coach who also asked to only use her first name, said she moved to the Georgian Black Sea port of Batumi in February 2022.
"I already realized it was impossible to continue working in Moscow," she told RFE/RL. "I sold my Moscow apartment, bought another apartment here, and moved here to live."
"When I came here, I immediately had a feeling of freedom," she said. "In Moscow you always live under pressure, but here you can say what you want, do what you want. No one is afraid of the police here: They help people, they don't persecute them."
Like Pyotr, Marina said she was taken aback by the frequently violent street demonstrations that have rocked Tbilisi and elsewhere in recent months. Some Georgians have sought to thwart efforts by the ruling Georgian Dream party to introduce new Russian-style "foreign agent" laws.
"At first I was shocked: What I left behind, this lack of freedom, has caught up with me. It was impossible to believe. And now it's not entirely clear how it will all end; the protests are still going on," she said.
Olga, a hairdresser from the St. Petersburg region, said she, her husband, and their three children fled to Spain more than two years ago. Her husband had been outspoken against the war on social media and had been fined for participating in public demonstrations against the war.
"Among other things, we explained that my husband could be imprisoned in Russia for his anti-war views, and my son could be drafted into the army and sent to war," she said.
She said they received political asylum quickly, due to Spanish law, and though she's been able to open up a salon catering to Russian-speaking clients, her husband has been struggling to generate income.
Some of those who fled Russia are equivocal about the war, a trend that shows up in sociological research in and out of the country: People who don't necessarily outright oppose the conflict but also certainly don't support it, either.
Like with previous mass outmigration -- such as after the 1917 Russian Revolution -- experts doubt a whole-scale return of expatriate Russians, as many integrate into their adopted countries or simply stay away from repressive policies.
"It seems that after three years of war, almost everyone who wanted to return to Russia has already done so or will do so in the near term," commentator Vladimir Ruvinsky wrote in an op-ed in the Moscow Times earlier this month. "The rest -- the majority -- are unlikely to do so."
