A Small Boat, a Vast Sea and …

A series of knocks ratt­led his apart­ment door one day last fall, and Mak­sim pee­red through the pee­pho­le to see two sol­diers in uni­form. They were mili­ta­ry enlist­ment offi­cers, he knew, expan­ding the vast con­scrip­ti­on effort for the war in Ukrai­ne to Russia’s remo­te Far East.

The 44-year-old fisher­man kept in moti­on­less silence until the offi­cers moved along. Kno­wing they would be back, Mak­sim went that night to the home of a fri­end, Ser­gei, who had recei­ved an unwel­co­me visit of his own. Tog­e­ther, they pored over maps at Sergei’s kit­chen table, try­ing to find a way to flee the coun­try and a war whe­re thou­sands of young Rus­si­an men were dying. Ser­gei then offe­red a plan that, at first, see­med unfathomable.

“I pro­po­se that we tra­vel by sea,” Ser­gei said.