Russia's invasion of Ukraine prompts tech CEO to get her colleagues out of Russia

Russia's invasion of Ukraine prompts tech CEO to get her colleagues out of Russia

Transcript¹

The CEO of a U.S. tech company, who partnered with a Russian firm and began hiring staff in Russia a decade ago, is scrambling² to book flights in a bid to get her colleagues out of the country.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Since Russia's war of Ukraine began, some U.S. companies with employees in Russia have been desperate to get those colleagues out. Amanda Aronczyk from NPR's Planet Money podcast tells the story of one company's efforts.

AMANDA ARONCZYK, BYLINE³: When I first spoke⁴ with the CEO of an American software company, she was frantically⁵ trying to book plane tickets.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: It's almost impossible to get a ticket online, and the prices have skyrocketed.

ARONCZYK: Most of her employees are programmers and developers living in Russia. The CEO herself was born in Russia but lives in the U.S. and has been a citizen for more than 20 years. We're not using her name because of the possible danger to the people who work with her.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Every day, I speak to them, and everyone just - we're all crying. There is nothing more terrible than what is going on right now in Ukraine. And on top of that, we're now also concerned about the well-being⁶ of every single person within the organization.

ARONCZYK: As relations between Russia and the West collapse⁷, it is getting scary there. People who protest the war are being arrested in the streets, risking long prison sentences. People also fear being conscripted into the military. So the CEO's business partner, whose name we're also not using, he knew immediately he wanted to leave Russia. The CEO managed to get him plane tickets to Turkey, but escaping the country was still going to be tricky⁸.

What did you do to prepare to leave?

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: I started smoking (laughter). On Thursday, I started smoking because I had a big stress.

ARONCZYK: He said goodbye to his mother and in-laws, left his dogs and the keys to his apartment with a friend. And then he, his wife and their two kids headed to the airport.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: We entered the airport building. My wife decided⁹ to go to the toilet, and on the way, a man stopped them and say, where are you going?

ARONCZYK: The man doesn't show any ID. His wife thinks it's probably somebody from the Russian intelligence service, but they have a cover story. They are going on vacation.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: I was speaking very loudly about this. I said, now we're going to Istanbul. We'll stay for 10 days. It'll be so good.

ARONCZYK: And the cover story seems to work. They make it through customs, then border control, get to the waiting area, and their plane is at the gate.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: When we finally passed customs, it was my first time within this week when I understood that now I'm in safe place.

ARONCZYK: They make it to Turkey. It all happened so fast. He and the CEO are still running their company. But otherwise, he's basically starting over.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: I'm starting everything from scratch now, but again, it's better to start from scratch than to end in jail.

ARONCZYK: Fleeing Russia was not the future that the business partner saw for himself. And for the CEO back in the U.S., it has all been hard to watch.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: These are young people. Majority of them are in their 20s and 30s. They grew up wanting to be part of the world and not to be stuck within the borders of Russia.

ARONCZYK: The CEO has helped get more than half of her employees and their families out of Russia, but not everyone left. So she is starting to hire new staff, this time people from Ukraine instead because now she doesn't want to participate in the Russian economy at all. Amanda Aronczyk, NPR News.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 scrambling   

v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Scrambling up her hair, she darted out of the house. 她匆忙扎起头发，冲出房去。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• She is scrambling eggs. 她正在炒蛋。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 frantically   

ad.发狂地, 发疯地

参考例句：

• He dashed frantically across the road. 他疯狂地跑过马路。
• She bid frantically for the old chair. 她发狂地喊出高价要买那把古老的椅子。

6 well-being   

n.安康，安乐，幸福

参考例句：

• He always has the well-being of the masses at heart.他总是把群众的疾苦挂在心上。
• My concern for their well-being was misunderstood as interference.我关心他们的幸福，却被误解为多管闲事。

7 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

8 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

9 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。