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ABC News
ABC News
National
Lucia Stein and Ekaterina Chernyaeva in Finland

As Putin's war in Ukraine rages, Russians fled their country through one of the only escape routes

With Vladimir Putin's grip on power tightening, some Russians are fleeing via train to Helsinki. (ABC News: Ekaterina Chernyaeva)

Like clockwork, twice a day, every day, a train departs Russia's former imperial capital, winding its way across untouched countryside before arriving in Helsinki.

Usually there are empty seats inside the high-speed train as it pulls into platform nine in the station in Finland's capital.

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