Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the subsequent military draft, as many as a million Russians have fled their country. Many of these migrants (who are typically younger, more liberal, wealthier, and more educated) have emigrated to nearby countries to escape the war and Russia’s increasingly authoritarian regime. In 2023, researcher Liudmila Listrovaya interviewed 20 Russians who had fled to the Republic of Georgia. Her findings reflect broader tensions in how people navigate deep opposition to their own country’s government alongside a continued love for its people.
Listrovaya found that many interviewees held ambivalent and complicated feelings about the lives they had left behind. All interviewees expressed their love and longing for Russia, and all but one strongly opposed the war and the current government. As one man described, “I love my country, but I hate the state… I miss Russia very much… At the same time I clearly understand that if I return, my taxes will be sponsoring the war.”Multiple interviewees also expressed feeling shame for leaving behind relatives who were elderly or had health issues. Simultaneously, however, many people had sharp political conflicts with family members who still lived in Russia. Many interviewees managed these relationships by intentionally avoiding political topics. As one man stated, “if we all bring up the topic of war, there will be arguments, and 100% there will be a conflict. … I just simply don’t start these conversations.”
Almost all of the people interviewed were entirely disengaged from political action, including those who had been highly politically active before leaving Russia. Even after moving to Georgia, many emigrants expressed anxiety over the potential of the Russian regime retaliating against them. All but one interviewee avoided posting anything political on social media due to the threat of legal or physical punishment.
Many emigrants expressed disillusionment with the idea that protesting could cause any positive change. One woman described, “Maybe our protest is our departure? … The escape was the only available protest. You can’t write anything on the internet – you return back and they roll you up. Going to protests is useless and physically dangerous.”
At a basic level, these findings highlight how authoritarianism can impact people’s perceptions of their nation, the government, and their own political actions. In fact, most interviewees were entirely disengaged from politics and disillusioned from the hope that anything in Russia might change for the better. More generally, this study reminds us of the deeply complicated feelings many people around the world hold toward their countries today, holding both a love for the people and opposition to the government simultaneously.
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