Russian Migrants in Georgia and Germany: Activism in the Context of Russia's War against Ukraine

Russia’s war in Ukraine has uprooted millions of Ukrainians, with many fleeing abroad and others displaced within Ukraine. The war also prompted a new wave of migration from Russia. After 24 February 2022 and after the announcement of a partial mobilisation in September 2022, hundreds of thousands of Russian citizens left their home country for various countries, including former Soviet republics in the Caucasus and Central Asia and European countries. While not all of these migrants are politically engaged, a vocal minority has long-standing experience of civic and political activism and saw migration as a way of escaping repression and continuing their oppositional activities remotely. Others with little or no previous experience of activism have been mobilised in the context of the war. And in countries with pre-existing Russian migrant communities, sections of this population have also engaged in humanitarian and anti-war activities.

This report analyses how politically and socially engaged migrants from Russia (re-)organise themselves at a critical time. We focus on Georgia and Germany as prominent host countries for this migration. Despite differences in migration regimes, the numbers of Russian migrants taken in, and attitudes to these newcomers, we observe more similarities than differences in migrant activism in Germany and Georgia. Drawing on in-depth interviews with Russian migrants in these countries, we examine a variety of grassroots projects, focusing on anti-war and related fields of activism. Many observers and activists are chiefly concerned about the extent to which activists can influence developments in Russia from abroad. Yet the activists’ political and civic engagement, while motivated by these developments, is not directed solely at the home country.