Russia's brain drain: war with Ukraine prompts tens of thousands to flee abroad

Before Russia's war with Ukraine, director Anna Demidova used to run an independent theatre company in Moscow. But the Kremlin's so-called 'special military operation' changed all that. At the start of March, she decided to leave Russia in protest against the invasion.

Anna is convinced about the social and political role that art can play. I met her in Berlin's central district of Mitte, where she had recently moved in the hope of a fresh start. She explained to me that her family, fearing for her safety, had pushed her to leave Russia following her frequent participation in anti-war protests inside the country.

"Before Putin started this war, I was trying to invest my all, as a person, as a citizen, and also as an artist to make people understand that we need more responsibility, that we should participate in our political life. Because people do not understand politics. They're not interested. They don't give a f**k about what's going on in Russia."

On a personal level, Anna told me that the invasion represented the end of everything, making her feel all that she had been trying to achieve, was pointless. 

"One part of me couldn’t understand what was happening, but the other part of me also understands that this is the logical continuation of what Putin has been doing over the last 20 years. Our country became more militaristic. My grandfather and all my relatives were saying that a war should never happen again. The motto for the celebrations to mark the end of the Second World War was 'never again'. But at some point, Putin transformed that to 'we can repeat that'. Which is absolutely insane."

The crackdown on freedom of speech inside Russia has also led to many journalists fleeing the country. Meeting fellow