The Private Jet That Took 100 Russians Away From Putin’s War
Thousands of working professionals have fled to neighboring countries. This is how they got out, and what their departure means for their homeland.
Russian software engineer Nikita Shembel on the waterfront in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Photographer: Tako Robakidze for Bloomberg BusinessweekWhen President Vladimir Putin announced the mobilization of some 300,000 fresh soldiers for his war in Ukraine, thousands of military-age men across Russia headed for the borders, preferring exile over conscription for a fight they didn’t believe in. Within days of the Sept. 21 address, prices for flights to places Russians were still free to visit had soared—if you could get a seat.
Ilya Flaks, who’d moved to Baku, the capital of neighboring Azerbaijan, shortly after the war started last winter, was getting increasingly frantic calls from friends and acquaintances trying to get out. Why not, he figured, charter a plane and concoct a story of a business meeting that the passengers would claim to be attending? That Friday, he rang a local aviation company and was offered an Airbus A319 that the Azeri government had once used, outfitted with business-class seats for 55 passengers, cream-colored leather couches, and polished mahogany coffee tables. He soon secured a deal, but the owners demanded more than $100,000 upfront.