The ongoing migration of Russian exiles before and after the Kremlin’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine is much more “fluid, dynamic and ambiguous” than the emigres’ majority demographic—highly skilled young workers from major Russian cities—might initially suggest, returning ICWA fellow Aron Ouzilevski said in his final report at the US Institute of Peace on November 8.
Based in Tbilisi, Georgia, Aron spent two years writing about Russians fleeing authoritarianism, militarism, mobilization and a deteriorating economy at home. He traveled widely to emigre hubs in Europe and beyond, observing on the ground how political opposition leaders, creative and tech professionals, activists, journalists and civil society are adapting to new lives and careers, how they’re affecting their host countries and what they reflect about President Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
Many immigrants are in limbo and struggle to define themselves, Aron observed. “The term ‘exile’ or izgnaniye feels too permanent or implies they were forced out for political reasons,” he said. At the same time, “emigre” implies integration into a new country, which those living and working in “isolated Russian bubbles” in waypoint destinations like Georgia don’t experience. Many emigres maintain ties to Russia, returning to visit family members or working remotely in the Russian economy. Many who left for political reasons are often unwilling to live in refugee camps to obtain humanitarian visas in Europe.
Their futures are difficult to predict since they depend on broader global events in their host countries and the outcome of war in Ukraine. “Still, based on my own sample size and excluding activists and journalists facing criminal charges back home, around 70 percent of immigrants remain resolute in their decision to stay abroad,” Aron reported. “Their stories reveal how an authoritarian regime can deceive and pacify a generation of critically minded individuals by masking its hostility.”
Following his talk, Aron joined a panel discussion with the leading exiles Lyubov Sobol and Anna Veduta discussing wider implications of his research and what the future may hold for Russian emigres and their home country, moderated by ICWA’s Gregory Feifer.
Veduta—director of strategic engagement at the Washington DC-based Free Russia Foundation, and former spokesperson for the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny—emphasized that Russian support for Putin’s war is not as huge as Kremlin propaganda or the media lead us to believe. “We don’t see any lines at conscription centers,” she said. “It’s not a patriotic war for Russians.” She conservatively estimates that 20 percent of Russians support the war, while a silent majority tries to go on with life as if it isn’t happening.
Sobol, a leading opposition politician who was a close ally of Navalny, urged US and European governments to promote democratic values by granting tourist visas to Russian citizens. “Before the Ukraine war in 2022, Russians could go abroad and see with their own eyes that Europe and France and Germany are not the enemy, that people are very polite and welcoming to Russians,” she said. “But now visas are difficult to obtain, feeding Kremlin propaganda that the West doesn’t like Russians because they don’t even let them enter their countries.”
Read Aron’s dispatches here.
Speaker
Aron Ouzilevski has worked as a freelance journalist, editor and cybersecurity analyst. His research and writing has focused on Soviet and contemporary Russian politics and culture, and his work has appeared in The Guardian, The Economist and The Moscow Times. He holds a joint masters degree in global journalism and Russian/Slavic Studies from New York University.
Panel
Lyubov Sobol is a Russian opposition politician. 
She conducted journalistic investigations into corruption in Russia while serving as a lawyer for Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation. Currently, she leads anti-propaganda projects on YouTube, attracting hundreds of thousands of viewers. In 2023, Sobol was a senior fellow with the Center for European Policy Analysis.
Anna Veduta is director of strategic engagement at the Free Russia Foundation. She is an expert in strategic communication and international affairs who began her career as the first press secretary to the opposition leader Alexei Navalny. She served as a global outreach director for the leading Russian media platform Meduza, spearheading its international presence. Returning to the Navalny-founded Anti-Corruption Foundation as vice president, she later led advocacy efforts in Washington, D.C.
Moderator
Gregory Feifer is executive director of the Institute of Current World Affairs and a fellow in Russia in 2000 – 2002. A former Moscow correspondent for National Public Radio, his books include Russians: The People Behind the Power. He has written for numerous publications, including The New York Times, Foreign Affairs and The Times Literary Supplement, and is working on a biography of the Russian politician Boris Nemtsov.
