Although Putin, who has been instructing the Russian military units advancing on the territory of Ukraine for more than 3 weeks, repeats his emphasis on “We do not want to invade Ukraine” at every opportunity, blood continues to shed in Ukraine. There is a prevailing opinion in the world that Russia will pay a heavy price because of this war. Tens of thousands of Russians, who were disturbed by this situation, fled from their own lands and came to Istanbul.
Experts compare the influx of Russians to Istanbul with the immigration of about 100,000 people to Istanbul during the Russian Civil War in 1920. Russian economist Konstantin Sonin, who made evaluations on the subject, underlines the seriousness of the situation and states that such a thing did not happen even in peacetime.
Turkish Airlines, which continues to organize flights from Russia, can have 30 flights. This is an important factor for Russians to prefer Istanbul. On the other hand, other countries from which Russians have fled intensively include former Soviet countries, as well as Armenia, Kazakhstan and Georgia.