My final weeks in Russia, ten years ago

We left in August 2013 and never went back.

I wrote here how we had journeyed to that decision — to leave Russia.

A decade ago I had the biggest standoff I’ve ever had with my wife. She demanded we leave Russia.

So how were they, our final weeks in Moscow?

They were fine. I don’t want to dramatize or exaggerate. Around May, I got my work visa, so our departure became a certainty. I wasn’t running around announcing my departure to my colleagues, friends, and relatives. That process was slow and often quiet. This was before Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the start of Russia’s rapid fallout with the West. After all, at the time, Russia continued to be a country full of opportunities. The financial crisis of 2008 didn’t hit Russia hard. The West had treated Putin with suspicion because of his KGB background, but there was never a confrontation. In fact, Western companies continued to woo the country and its elites as they sought to expand their presence in Russia. They swallowed the Russian government’s raiding of private companies, including the infamous destruction of Yukos and the jailing of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, just fine. Money didn’t smell back in the day. Overall, Russia continued to grow. Under Putin, it became a stable economy.