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| 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. | 去年秋天的一天，一连串敲门把马克西姆的公寓大门震得咯吱作响，他从猫眼里看到两名穿着制服的士兵。他知道，他们是征兵军官，负责将乌克兰战争的大规模征兵工作延伸至俄罗斯偏僻的远东地区。 |
| 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. | 这位44岁的渔民一动不动地沉默着，直到军官离开。马克西姆知道他们还会回来，他当晚就去了朋友谢尔盖家，后者也遇上了不速之客来访。他们一起在谢尔盖家厨房的餐桌上研究地图，努力寻找办法，逃离这个国家和这场让无数俄罗斯年轻男性正为之付出生命的战争。随后，谢尔盖提出了一个乍看似乎毫无可行性的计划。 |
| “I propose that we travel by sea,” Sergei said. | “我提议我们走海路，”谢尔盖说。 |
| The idea was the start of a daring and daunting journey in which the two men set off in a small fishing boat with a 60-horsepower motor to travel hundreds of miles over several days — past Russian border guards and through the treacherous Bering Sea — to win asylum on U.S. shores. It was a desperate quest for freedom, and one that did not go according to plan. | 这个想法开启了一段大胆而艰巨的旅程，他俩乘坐一艘配备60马力发动机的小渔船出发，多日之中航行数百公里，途经俄罗斯边防守卫，穿越危险的白令海，抵达美国海岸获得庇护。这是一场对自由的绝望追寻，而且没有完全按照计划进行。 |
| For months, thousands of Russian men with similar misgivings have been fleeing the country, driving across the border, taking trains into Europe, or securing flights overseas. Some of those escaping military service traveled by plane to Latin America, then northward, with more than 35,000 Russians arriving last year to seek asylum at U.S. borders. | 几个月来，成千上万怀着同样不安的俄罗斯男性都在逃离这个国家，他们开车越过边境，乘火车进入欧洲，或设法登上飞往国外的航班。有些兵役逃避者飞到拉丁美洲，然后再一路向北——去年有超过3.5万名俄罗斯人抵达美国边境寻求庇护。 |
| Maksim and Sergei, who asked that their last names not be published to protect their families, did not have the money or luxury for such a journey, nor did they have much support. In the town of Egvekinot, wedged between the mountains and the Bering Sea on the edge of the Arctic Circle, it seemed most everyone was a supporter of President Vladimir Putin of Russia, even as the prolonged war in Ukraine had called more local men into service for a conflict thousands of miles away. | 马克西姆和谢尔盖（为保护家人，他们要求隐去姓氏）没有钱或余裕做这样的旅行，他们也没得到多少支持。埃格韦基诺特镇地处北极圈边缘，坐落在群山和白令海之间，这里似乎每个人都是普京总统的支持者，哪怕乌克兰旷日持久的战争已经征召了越来越多的当地男性，投入到远在千里之外的冲突之中。 |
| With the aid of VPNs that allowed them to bypass internet censorship and find news beyond the nationalist propaganda coming out of Moscow, Sergei and Maksim had grown to reject the Kremlin’s narrative about the war. They would not willingly join what they saw as an unjustified invasion, launched by a government they so vehemently opposed. | 有了VPN，他们得以绕过互联网审查，看到俄罗斯民族主义政治宣传之外的新闻，谢尔盖和马克西姆愈发抗拒克里姆林宫关于战争的叙述。他们不愿加入被他们视为不正当的侵略，他们也强烈反对发动这场侵略的政府。 |
| But Maksim was not so sure they could survive a trip from Egvekinot to the Alaska mainland. Then, as they examined maps further, they noticed St. Lawrence Island, part of Alaska, right in the middle of the Bering Sea. The journey to get there would not be nearly as far. On their phones, satellite images showed that the island was home to a village and an airstrip. | 但马克西姆不确定他们能否完成从埃格韦基诺特前往阿拉斯加大陆的旅程。随后，他们在仔细研究路线时发现了属于阿拉斯加的圣劳伦斯岛，就在白令海的正中间。抵达该岛的路没那么远。他们手机上的卫星图像显示，岛上有一座村庄和一条飞机跑道。 |
| “We can do that,” Maksim agreed. | “我们可以去那里，”马克西姆同意了。 |
| He had a boat, about 16 feet long, the kind of vessel best suited for fishing in the tame waters of Kresta Bay. This journey would take them far beyond that, some 300 miles across Russian coastline, then deeper into turbulent seas. It was their best option, they decided, so long as the fall weather, often frigid so far north, stayed calm — and so long as the Russian border patrol did not spot them. | 他有一艘长约五米的船，是最适合在克列斯特湾的平静水域捕鱼的类型。这段旅程将把他们带到更远的地方，越过俄罗斯海岸线约480公里，深入波涛汹涌的大海。他们决定，这就是最好的机会，只要秋日的天气平和——在遥远的北方，这个季节往往非常寒冷，只要俄罗斯边境巡逻队不发现他们。 |
| The risks were clear. There was a possibility they might not survive. But to them, it was a chance worth taking. | 风险是显而易见的。他们有可能丧命。但在他们看来，为这个机会冒险是值得的。 |
| A ‘fishing’ trip | “捕鱼”之旅 |
| The men had little time to spare. | 留给他们的时间不多了。 |
| With the sun sitting ever lower on the horizon, temperatures were steadily dropping and would soon be well below freezing, too cold for them to survive a crossing by sea. They were already eyeing storms that could capsize their boat. The military enlistment teams, meanwhile, were still roaming through town. | 随着太阳升起的高度越来越低，气温不断下降，很快就会远低于零度，到时就冷得无法渡海了。他们已经在关注可能掀翻船只的风暴。与此同时，征兵队仍在镇上挨家挨户敲门。 |
| By the end of the day one Monday in September, the men had a plan to depart by the end of the week, as soon as the weather offered a window of calm. They pooled their money to purchase several hundred liters of fuel, filling orange drums that pushed the boat’s dark-green hull deeper into the water. | 在九月一个周一的晚上，他俩做好计划，只要天气暂时平静，就在周末到来前出发。他们凑钱买了几百升燃料，装满了橙色油桶，将深绿色的船体推进更深的水中。 |
| They gathered clothes and camping gear, coffee and cigarettes. They packed water, chicken, eggs, sausage, bread and potatoes. They charged their GPS unit and phones to help navigate the route. | 他们准备了衣服、露营装备、咖啡和香烟。他们装好了水、鸡肉、鸡蛋、香肠、面包和土豆。他们给GPS设备和手机充电，好在导航时使用。 |
| Maksim’s parents and siblings — Indigenous Chukchi — were vacationing away from home when he and Sergei decided to leave, and hoping to keep their escape a secret, he opted not to share his plans with them. Sergei, 51, would be leaving behind friends and a transportation business. Elsewhere in Russia were his mother and two daughters. | 趁着马克西姆的父母和兄弟姐妹（他们都是楚科奇原住民）离家度假，他和谢尔盖决定出发，因为希望对这场出逃保密，他没有把计划告知他们。51岁的谢尔盖放弃了朋友和他的运输生意。他的母亲和两个女儿也还留在俄罗斯。 |
| The men were anxious, but then they got a jolt of optimism after seeing a video on the Telegram messaging platform. At a news conference that week, a reporter had asked the press secretary at the White House about the U.S. policy for handling people who fled Russia. | 他们很焦虑，但在通讯平台Telegram看到一段视频后，他们感到了一丝乐观。在那周的一场新闻发布会上，一名记者向白宫新闻秘书询问美国将如何处理俄罗斯出逃者。 |
| “Anyone seeking refuge for persecution, regardless of their nationality, may apply for asylum in the United States and have their claim adjudicated on a case-by-case basis,” the spokeswoman, Karine Jean-Pierre, responded. | “任何因受迫害而寻求庇护的人，不论国籍，都可以在美国申请庇护，他们的申请将根据具体情况得到裁决，”发言人卡琳·让-皮埃尔回应道。 |
| By Thursday, with only wisps of clouds in the sky, the men gathered at the pebbled shoreline. They told friends they were going “fishing,” then pushed off into the water, unsure whether they would ever be back, and also unsure whether they would find a new home. | 到周四，空中只有几缕云彩，他们来到布满鹅卵石的海岸。他们告诉朋友将去“捕鱼”，然后推船下水，不确定是否永远都不再回来，也不知道他们能否找到一个新家。 |
| Boat troubles and border guards | 船只问题和边防守卫 |
| The first leg of the route was a familiar one, just a couple hours across the bay to Konergino, where Maksim was born and where they could stay with some of his friends. | 路线的第一段是条熟路，只需几小时就能穿过海湾到达科涅尔吉诺，那是马克西姆出生的地方，他们可以与他的一些朋友同住。 |
| After spending the night and refueling themselves and the boat, they departed again in the morning, following the coast eastward for more than 100 miles. With the seas tranquil, they pressed on, but their progress was hampered by the boat, which kept stalling every couple of hours, forcing them to troubleshoot the motor and adjust fuel lines, sowing worry about how the vessel would hold up for the remainder of the trip. | 过夜之后，他们养精蓄锐，给船加好了油，在早上再次启程，沿海岸向东行驶160多公里。海面风平浪静，他们继续前行，但航程进度受到了船只问题的影响。船每隔几小时就熄火，迫使他们排查发动机故障并调整燃油管路，他们开始担心这艘船能否撑过剩下的航程。 |
| They arrived at the community of Enmelen by 5 p.m., renting rooms from locals. But they faced a new problem: A storm system had arrived, with winds whipping down the treeless hillsides and foaming the seas below. When they awoke the next morning, it was still too rough. So was the next day. | 他们于下午5点抵达恩梅连的社区，从当地人那里租了房间。但他们面临着一个新问题：风暴已经到来，狂风吹打着光秃秃的山坡，大海卷起巨浪。第二天早上醒来，天气依然恶劣。之后一天也是如此。 |
| But the storm finally passed, and the men set out once again, trailing the squalls to the east. The disturbed seas were much choppier than they had been, with crashing waves spraying over Sergei’s side of the boat. The small windshield did little to protect them from the elements. | 但风暴最终平息，两人也再次出发，顺着疾风向东驶去。海面比以往更加汹涌，大浪拍打着谢尔盖一侧的船身。小小的挡风玻璃根本无法保护他们免受风雨侵袭。 |
| Before long, water filled the base of the boat, the bilge pump grinding in a constant whir as it tried to keep up. | 没多久，船底就灌满了水，舱底泵呼啸运转，使劲把水抽出去。 |
| They were also wary about the towns ahead, on the eastern edge of the Chukchi Peninsula, where many Russian border guards were stationed. The men had turned their cellphones to airplane mode, hoping not to be tracked. They kept their satellite phone off. As they approached areas with more population, they veered into deeper waters, hoping that staying two kilometers offshore would be enough. | 他们还得对前方位于楚科奇半岛东边的城镇保持警觉，那里驻扎着许多俄罗斯边防部队。他们将手机调到飞行模式，希望不被追踪。他们关闭了卫星电话。当靠近人口更多地区，他们会转头驶入更深的水域，希望保持离岸两公里的距离就已足够。 |
| They argued about the best strategy: Maksim wanted to take an even wider berth to avoid detection. Sergei, already drenched and less confident, tried to stop him. He wanted to stay in calmer waters. | 他们争论什么才是最佳选择：马克西姆想走得更远一点，以免被发现。浑身湿透、信心不足的谢尔盖不想让他那么做。他想留在平静的水域。 |
| With the sun setting, they began searching for a place out of the elements where they could pull up their boat. They found a cove, dropped anchor and tied up to a boulder on shore. There, they discovered an abandoned shack, its paint peeled and boards decaying. They set up a tent inside. | 太阳落山时，他们开始寻找能避风的停船处。他们找到一处小海湾，下了锚，把船拴在岸边的一块大石上。他们在那里发现了一间废弃的小屋，屋体油漆剥落，木板都已腐烂。他们就在里面搭起了帐篷。 |
| Into the Bering Sea | 进入白令海 |
| The following morning, Maksim awoke early, trekking up a hillside with a pair of binoculars to look for border patrol activity and gauge whether the weather was clear enough to proceed to the most difficult part of the voyage: crossing the Bering Sea. | 第二天早上，马克西姆早早醒来，带着一副双筒望远镜徒步爬上山坡，寻找边境巡逻队，估量天气够不够好，能不能让他们继续航行中最困难的部分：穿越白令海。 |
| He worked his way back down to their campsite to report. | 他回到营地，报告自己的观察。 |
| “The sea is calm,” he said. | “大海很平静，”他说。 |
| They cooked up some chicken, made tea and then set off, using their GPS unit to point them toward St. Lawrence Island. | 他们煮了鸡肉，泡了茶，然后出发，让GPS装置指向圣劳伦斯岛。 |
| As they accelerated away from the Russian coast, Maksim kept scanning behind them, looking for helicopters or patrol boats. His boat surely did not have the speed to outrun them. | 当他们加速离开俄罗斯海岸时，马克西姆一直扫视后面，寻找直升机或巡逻艇。靠他们的船速肯定跑不掉。 |
| They had about 50 miles to go, passing by walruses and watching as an orca followed them for part of the crossing. Then the waves started to rise again, tossing the boat through swells, as if they were riding a motorcycle through the mountains. | 他们还有大约80公里的路要走，他们从海象身边经过，还观察到一只虎鲸，它跟着他们游了一段路。然后海浪又开始升起，小船在大浪中颠簸，就像骑着摩托车在山间穿行。 |
| Sometimes it would feel as if they were in a ditch, with water rising up on both sides of them. When going up swells, the boat’s motor would buzz, strained to the edge of its capacity. Wave crests broke over the hull, dousing them. | 有时他们感觉好像在一条沟里，两边都在涨水。当浪升起来时，船的马达嗡嗡作响，以最高速度吃力地运转。波峰冲刷船体，将他们全身打湿。 |
| Then, at the peak of one of the swells, Sergei stood up and shouted: “The island!” | 然后，一个巨浪将他们托举到顶峰时，谢尔盖站起来大喊：“看到岛了！” |
| “Where?” called Maksim. He could not see long distances as well. | “在哪里？”马克西姆喊。他能看到的距离没有谢尔盖远。 |
| “You’re heading right toward it,” Sergei replied. | “你正朝着它前进，”谢尔盖回答道。 |
| The island was bathed in the orange glow of twilight. A group of villagers on all-terrain vehicles had spotted them and was zipping out to the shore. | 小岛沐浴在黄昏的橙色光芒中。一群开着沙滩车的村民发现了他们，疾驰到岸边。 |
| Maksim turned to Sergei: “They’re not going to shoot us, are they?” | 马克西姆转头看向谢尔盖：“他们不会向我们开枪吧？” |
| An elusive freedom | 自由还没有着落 |
| Maksim put the boat into full throttle as he approached the shore, then cut the engine as they sloshed up onto U.S. soil for the first time. | 在靠近岸边时，马克西姆将油门开到最大，然后关掉引擎，随着船漂向岸边，这是他们第一次进入美国领土。 |
| As the men climbed out of the boat, they opened up translation apps on their phones, typing out a message for those coming to greet them: “We don’t want the war. We want political asylum.” | 两人爬下船，打开了手机上的翻译应用程序，为前来迎接他们的人输入了一条信息：“我们不想要战争。我们想要政治庇护。” |
| Word soon spread through the community of Gambell, Alaska, home to about 600 people, nearly all Alaska Natives. As some used a tractor to pull the boat above the tide line, others brought the men to the local police station. Food began to arrive from all over town: pizza, sausages, peanut butter, soup, tea. | 消息很快传遍了阿拉斯加甘贝尔社区，该社区约有600人，几乎都是阿拉斯加原住民。有人用牵引船将船拉出潮汐线，有人带他们去了当地警察局。食物从全镇各处送来：披萨、香肠、花生酱、汤、茶。 |
| The men told the growing crowd about their journey and their desire for freedom, and people there spoke of the generational connections of Indigenous communities that span the Bering Sea, including the Chukchi people like Maksim. One person in Gambell reported having a grandfather born on the Russian side. Many had other relatives. | 关注者越来越多，两人讲述了他们的旅程和他们对自由的渴望，当地人则讲起横跨白令海的原住民社区的代际联系，包括像马克西姆这样的楚科奇人。甘贝尔的一个人说他的祖父出生在俄罗斯那一侧。许多人也在那边有亲戚。 |
| Someone told them it was “a shame” that the border had ever been created; people would go back and forth across the sea all the time “before they made these maps.” | 有人告诉他们，划分国界“令人遗憾”；“在他们做出这些地图之前”，人们一直可以在海上来回穿梭。 |
| But the following day, the world of borders returned. To their surprise, U.S. immigration officers arrived from the mainland, and flew Sergei and Maksim off to what would be three months in an immigration detention facility in Tacoma, Wash. | 但第二天，他们仍要面对国界这个现实。令他们惊讶的是，移民官员从美国大陆抵达，将谢尔盖和马克西姆送往华盛顿州塔科马的移民拘留所，一待就是三个月。 |
| It was only this month that the two men were released, and they began contacting family and friends to let them know: They were alive. They had fled Russia. They were safe in the United States — for now. | 直到这个月，两人才获释，他们开始联系家人朋友，让他们知道：他们还活着。他们逃离了俄罗斯。他们在美国是安全的——至少目前是这样。 |
| They have started sharing their story, speaking to The New York Times through an interpreter. Interviews in Alaska and Washington State, along with GPS-stamped photos, corroborate much of their account. | 他们开始分享自己的故事，通过翻译与《纽约时报》交谈。在阿拉斯加和华盛顿州的采访以及带有GPS标记的照片证实了他们的大部分叙述。 |
| Like most of the Russians who have begun arriving at America’s doors, they have received no firm assurances that they can stay. Asylum petitions can take a year or more to process. Winning them means being able to prove the threat they faced in Russia — something their lawyers in the United States feel confident enough about. | 像大多数开始陆续到达美国的俄罗斯人一样，他们没有得到可以留下来的确切保证。庇护申请可能需要一年或更长时间来处理。要想赢得申请，就需要证明他们在俄罗斯面临的威胁——他们在美国的律师对此有足够的信心。 |
| In the meantime, they have tried to sort out what a new life in the United States might mean. They signed up for English classes, and Sergei put out feelers on a new business venture. Maksim has started talking about going back to Alaska to retrieve the boat he left there, the one that saved them. | 与此同时，他们试图理清在美国的新生活意味着什么。他们报名参加了英语课程，谢尔盖试探了一项新的商业计划。马克西姆考虑回到阿拉斯加，取回他留在那儿的那艘船，它救了他们俩的命。 |
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