Putin critic who left Russia flees Kyiv as “double refugee”

By JUSTIN SPIKE
Associated Press
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — A Russian citizen who years ago left her home country in opposition to Vladimir Putin’s government has been forced to flee again — this time from her adopted home of Kyiv — as Putin’s armed forces assault Ukraine. Olena, an anti-Putin activist before she moved to Ukraine in 2016, said she feels like a “double refugee” after leaving Russia and then fleeing Putin’s invasion. Disbelieving the Russian president’s claim that the war is about protecting Russian speakers in Ukraine, Olena says the conflict is not between Ukrainians and Russians — “brother people” — but that Putin is the two nations’ common enemy.