Russian couple find a refuge from war in their Istanbul bookstore

FILE PHOTO: A Russian couple, Oleg Chernousov and Aleksandra Chernousova, talks during an interview with Reuters at their newly opened bookstore in Istanbul, Turkey October 7, 2022. REUTERS/Dilara Senkaya

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - The conversation flowed from Turkish to Russian as Oleg and Aleksandra Chernousov chatted to guests at the launch of their bookstore in Istanbul, the start of a new life in a new city they once thought would just be a temporary home.

Seven months earlier they had fled from St Petersburg with a handful of possessions and one clear thought - to get themselves and their 11-year-old daughter far away from Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.