A former Russian diplomat leaves Russia over the war with a newborn son and ends up on twelve-hour factory shifts in Galilee. A smartwatch full of English words gets him into a doctoral program. Now he asks why Russians abroad still face their troubles alone, and proposes a way out.
Near Novorossiysk there is a tiny village called Ubykh, named after a Circassian tribe that once lived on this coast. In 1864, after decades of war, Russia completed the destruction of Circassia, and hundreds of thousands fled to Turkey. Could a revived Circassia now offer southern Russia a way out of Putin's war?
In December 1905, as its governor and his deputy fled, Novorossiysk declared itself an independent republic without firing a shot. Its elected council brought in an eight-hour workday, freed political prisoners and taxed big business. Two weeks later, troops arrived and the republic was gone.