Authors

Discussion

The situation with Russian (and previously – Belarus) academics in exile is complicated. From one perspective, they are members of the political community, which has been ostracized as Russian citizens who are ostracized following the atrocities of the war, and this sanction most of them consider entirely legitimate. The only question remains whether these sanctions hit academics in exile who leave the country to escape repression or protest the war. At the same time, these scholars have regularly joined the research and educational institutions in different countries, formally becoming part of the national academia. As such, they could expect to be a bearer of academic freedom in the same way as their colleagues. The situation is more complicated – it looks like the academics with Russian and Belarus citizenship have a moral burden imposed both inside and outside the academic community and have formal and informal limitations as academics. These limitations challenge the transnational principles of academic freedom as global. Several cases are discussed to prove this point.