Authors

Discussion

This roundtable brings together leading specialists in post-Soviet diaspora and emigration in order to discuss, how politically engaged Russian emigrants reflect on and respond to the increasingly hegemonic and repressive tendencies of the political regime of “Putinism”. Since 2011 and in step with consolidation of the Russian authoritarianism, large numbers of oppositional political activists are being ousted out from the country, while sociological surveys continue to document high levels of readiness to emigrate, especially among the younger cohorts of the Russian population. Even though we lack precise instruments to calculate the actual number of the Russian emigrants, estimates are of an order of magnitude 10 million, who as statistics says are relatively well educated, well off and well integrated into the countries of residence. While the Kremlin’s diasporic politics has become increasingly more apprehensive about the growing power of the Russian emigrants, they themselves seemingly lack a cohesive identity, comprehensive institutions and a clear common political vision. The roundtable will analyze ideological dynamism and ideological splits among the Russian emigrants, their attempts to get organized, their importance and relevance for the domestic political processes, and their convoluted relations with institutions and activists of the pro-Kremlin “compatriots”.