Authors

Elizabeth Plantan¹;  ¹ Stetson University, United States

Discussion

After Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, emigration rates from Russia skyrocketed as many Russian citizens opposing the war or afraid of its impacts scrambled to flee abroad. Among this wave of emigrants is a subpopulation of Russian activists, many of whom were involved in anti-regime or oppositional activism, who saw their “exit” from Russia as a choice between prison and exile. How are these new activists-in-exile continuing their activism from abroad? To what extent are they shifting their activities to engage in the broader anti-war effort? How do they interact with policymakers and other civil society actors in their new host countries, and are they able to maintain connections to activist communities within Russia?  This paper uses data from in-person interviews with Russian exiled activists and their supporters in Estonia and Germany in summer 2022, as well as remote interviews with stakeholders in multiple countries in fall and winter 2022, to begin to answer these questions. This research not only provides insight into the future Russian activism both from within Russia and from abroad, but also contributes to existing literature on authoritarianism, transnational activism, and diaspora politics.