Authors

Discussion

After the 24^th of February, tens of thousands of Russians began leaving the country. This continuous exile is motivated not only by the fear for their or the loved ones’ lives, but also by intransigence and resistance, feelings of anger, shame, and deep guilt. The paper reports the results of interpretative reading of the stories published in the telegram channel by those who left after the war began. Narrating their personal experience, the exiles emphasize not only the loss of their balance, roots and home. The leitmotivs are the disruptions of their links on the basis of irreconcilable disagreements, traumatization and attempts to ‘learn to live on: crooked, awkward, dying gradually inside from each next news headline.’ Their advantages are related to a departure right in time, successful crossing the borders, and finding a shelter. Further relocating to other cities and countries in order to restore the broken order of life is unaffordable to many. Some emphasize the bright prospects, others express hopes. For the rest, despite the useful cosmopolitanism, skills for and availability of remote work, cultural homelessness is inevitable. The accounts of their urgent need to rebuild their broken lives compete with leitmotivs on the temporary, liminal stage in the hope of returning, and frontiers of belonging are constantly being groped, felt and redrawn with the feelings of denial, acceptance and continuity.