Ivan arrives at his final destination. Anna trusts a stranger to help navigate their new home country.

In “The Deserter,” the journalist Sarah A. Topol reports the story of Ivan, a deserter who served as a captain in the Russian Army, fought in Ukraine and then ultimately fled the war and his country with his wife, Anna. (Ivan and Anna are pseudonyms used for their protection.)

Topol spoke to 18 deserters while reporting in eight countries across four continents over the last year and a half; their experiences helped inform a vivid picture of the Russian war operation and its corruption, chaos and brutality.

This audio version is in five parts and is narrated by Liev Schreiber.