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The land I left to get to Serbia, somehow (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

siberia

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'the land i left' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both locations as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I don't see?

'to get to serbia somehow' is the wordplay.
'to' becomes 'i' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'get' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'somehow' indicates anagramming the letters.
'serbia' anagrammed gives 'sberia'.
'i' going into 'sberia' is 'SIBERIA'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for siberia that I've seen before include "chosen by Putin for no-frills travel?" , "Region to which Russian and then Soviet governments sent those considered disloyal" , "Russia's far east" , "a place often very cold" , "Region in former USSR noted for harsh winters and notorious for prison camps" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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