Russia Upside Down: An Exit Strategy for the Second Cold War by Joe Weisberg

“I’m from Ukraine. I moved to the US in 2007 when I was 8 years old. I’m Ukrainian but have a lot of family from Russia because of the Soviet Union, you know, it was very tricky and everyone kind of migrated around. With some family still in Russia, and with the escalating conflict right now, I feel like I should be more informed about some of the stuff happening. People in Russia and Ukraine are giving me their own outputs. America has their own as well. So I’m like, okay, I just want to read everyone’s opinion. Most of my family in Ukraine had to flee towards Moldova. Some went to Germany, like my friends. My grandma lives in Crimea with her husband and right now they’re very affected by things. We can’t really send them money anymore and with all the other countries denying refugee status to Russian citizens, it’s kind of like entrapment there in other countries. This is not the first time. When the whole Crimea situation happened in 2014, my grandparents lost their papers, so it was double difficult for them. They said nothing really changed, but also everything changed in like a second. They’re not wealthy either, so it’s even harder for them. My step-grandpa had 3 strokes already. He’s a medical miracle.”