Leaving Russia follows Jason Corcoran as he and his family flee Moscow after Putin's invasion of Ukraine, joining a historic exodus of Russians escaping repression, fear, and moral collapse. As they struggle to rebuild their lives in Ireland, Corcoran becomes entangled in a chilling investigation into two powerful oligarchs seeking EU 'golden passports.' The book chronicles the experiences of a director, a musician, an investment banker, a billionaire entrepreneur, an opposition leader, and a tech founder, all swept up in the mass flight from Russia. As they flee, these individuals face the personal and professional consequences of a society in moral and political freefall, while elites scramble to secure EU residency in an attempt to straddle both worlds. Corcoran provides an insider's view of a nation unravelling. War, corruption, and state propaganda have emptied Russia of dissidents, artists, and entrepreneurs, while compelling once-powerful oligarchs to return to a country they scarcely recognise. Through vivid storytelling and incisive analysis, Leaving Russia exposes the human cost of Putin's regime and examines what it means to lose - and to search for - a homeland in a fractured world.
