Many Russians arriving in Turkey after the start of the war were suffering from shock caused by the invasion, she said, as well as difficulties in finding a place to live or ways to pay for goods due to sanctions on the Russian finance sector.
“Everyone was discussing symptoms of psychological distress. They could not eat, could not sleep and could not focus,” she said.
New arrivals in Istanbul described the situation in Russia as “rapidly deteriorating,” and many feared being trapped.
“If you stay, you may never be able to leave, and if you want to (leave) you better act fast,” she explained.
Likening the situation to the aftermath of Russia’s 1917 revolution, when hundreds of thousands of “white Russians” found refuge in Istanbul while fleeing the Bolsheviks, Rapoport said those fleeing felt they no longer had a future in their homeland.
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