Financial challenges and family links are forcing difficult decisions on many of those who left the country
When the war began, Olga Gladysheva, a former journalist who now works in video production, joined tens of thousands of other Russians fleeing the country.
“I left for Istanbul in a state of panic shortly after the war started. I thought I wouldn’t get another chance to leave, that the borders might close. I didn’t want to stay alone in the country as I saw all my friends leaving. I thought Russia was turning into North Korea,” she said.