Russian Emigration in the context of Russia-Ukraine Conflict 2022
Ana Brown
EXPO 42-B
December 16, 2022
1
24th of February 2022 may have been the most horrific day in Ukrainian history. Only
during the first much-documented 4 days of the war there were 550 casualties, according to
UNHCR. The Russian invasion, consequently, sparked a refugee crisis forcing 2,395 million to
flee their homes1 seeking safety. On the 8th of November that number reached unprecedented
figure of 7,8 million people. Most refugees are now in wealthier EU countries after first crossing
into neighbouring Poland, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Moldova. Moreover, a number of
European NGO’s are accusing European countries of unequal treatment towards Ukrainian
refugees on the one hand and refugees from other crisis regions on the other. They claim
Ukrainian refugees are given priority.2
Picture 1
1
https://data.unhcr.org/en/situations/ukraine
2
https://www.dw.com/en/fact-check-does-the-eu-prioritize-ukrainian-refugees/a-63737885
2
Source: https://data.unhcr.org/en/situations/ukraine
In order to provide Ukrainians unbureaucratic protection, the EU opened its borders
immediately and drafted Temporary Protection Directive which grants Ukrainians the automatic
right to stay and work for up to three years. If they don’t have anywhere to stay with, like friends
or relatives, refugees are housed in reception centres. They are entitled to social welfare
payments and access to medical treatment and schools.
3
All EU countries bordering Ukraine are allowing entry to all people fleeing the war in
Ukraine on humanitarian grounds regardless of whether or not they have any documents. If a
person has Ukrainian nationality and a biometric passport, they can enter the EU by presenting
the passport at the border, otherwise EU countries will admit any Ukrainian on humanitarian
grounds.3
On the 21st of September President Vladimir Putin ordered Russia's first mobilisation
since World War II and annexed 4 regions of Ukraine, which caused an escalation of the conflict
and a flurry of conscription-eligible males to leave the state. The President also signed a decree
introducing prison terms of up to 15 years for voluntary surrender and desertion during
mobilisation or war as well as a prison term of 10 years for discrediting the Russian armed
forces.
As the result, the atrocities of the Putin’s regime have affected not only Ukrainians but
also triggered Russian exodus. The last couple of months have witnessed a revival of the earlier,
twentieth-century flow of Russian emigres.
3
https://eu-solidarity-ukraine.ec.europa.eu/information-people-fleeing-war-ukraine_en#paragraph_314
4
What really captivating is who the émigrés are. Russian diaspora in CIS consists largely
of young, well-educated, politically conscious, active, articulate and resourceful people—in other
words, Russia’s intellectual elite. They speak foreign languages and most of them are employed
by international corporate giants. Financially self-sufficient, they don't seek any access to public
funds and don't require any financial aid. Yet, they are facing harsh reactions in the receiving
countries: lack of trust from the locals and a certain reluctance, unwillingness or hesitancy to
participate fully in the helping process. Almost every country has developed and drafted a
complex of restrictive measures in view of Russia’s actions destabilising the situation in Ukraine.
Below there are a few examples of that.
Georgia 2022
A recent survey by CRRC Georgia suggested that 59% of Georgians supported
restrictions on Russians entering the country. Support was especially high among young and
opposition-minded people. Georgian–ethnic Russians, Tbilisi-based anti-Kremlin Russian
activists, and even Georgians assumed to look like Russians, have all reportedly faced hostility in
Georgia. At least one branch of Bank of Georgia mandated that Russian citizens seeking to open
accounts sign forms indicating that they recognise Russia as ‘an aggressor’ and an ‘occupant’ of
both Georgia and Ukraine. The forms further obliged Russian clients to ‘fight Russian
propaganda’. Another major Georgian bank, was refusing to open accounts for Belarusian and
Russian citizens, explaining that they did not want to ‘help Russian citizens evade sanctions.’
5
Israel 2022
More than 2000 of Russians who tried to enter Israel on tourist visas since Putin invaded,
many are being placed in detention facilities at Ben-Gurion Airport and summarily deported. As
the number of arrivals increases, so will that of deportations. In one particularly heart-breaking
case, the severely disabled wife of an Israeli citizen and her young son were detained for five
hours and then deported, while both her husband and her wheelchair stayed in Israel. As he
watched his wife and son’s flight depart, David Even-Tov lamented that none of the clerks at the
airport regarded his wife ‘as a human being.’4
The three Baltic states – Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia – went particularly far and
prohibited anyone who holds a Russian passport to transit through their territories. Lithuania
implemented a visa ban for Russians. Additionally, these countries also said that they would not
grant asylum to Russians fleeing mobilisation as, according to them, the refusal to fulfil the civic
duty does not constitute sufficient grounds for being granted asylum.
4
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/haaretz-today/2022-10-03/ty-article/.premium/russians-seeking-refuge-
in-israel-face-a-cruel-reception/00000183-9e8c-deb9-a5c7-febc12370000
6
On the other hand, the European Council President, Charles Michel, said during an
address to the United Nations General Assembly that the EU should allow entry for Russians
fleeing mobilisation. The US and other western European countries like Germany and The UK
echo that in their foreign policy. Germany Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said "Anyone who
courageously opposes Putin's regime and thereby falls into great danger, can file for asylum on
grounds of political persecution". German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock praised Russian
anti-war protesters and added that no one inside the country can continue turning a blind eye to
what's happening in Ukraine.
So why is it the Western and the Eastern worlds split in their views? Whilst Western
Europe does recognise every effort to defeat Putin’s regime, Eastern Europe urges the world to
make no difference between the pro-Putin Russians and the ones who are against him.
Nobody knows exactly how many people have left Russia since the start of the war. First
wave estimates vary from 150,000 to 300,000. The second wave statistics reveal even more
bizarre numbers - 700,000 people. In this research I will attempt to analyse why the Baltic states
are being particularly abrasive towards Russians. In that I will turn to history of Latvia, Lithuania
and Estonia and enquire deeper into diplomatic and cultural relations between Russia and the
Baltic States.
7
The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were invaded and occupied by the
Soviet Union in 1940. The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact that had been signed between Nazi
Germany and the Soviet Union in August 1939, included the Secret Protocol, which established
Soviet and German spheres of influence in eastern Europe. It recognized Estonia, Latvia, and
Bessarabia as falling within the Soviet sphere. The three countries were then annexed into the
Soviet Union in August 1940. The United States and most other Western countries never
recognised this incorporation, considering it illegal.
The two Soviet occupations of Latvia
In September 1939, shortly after signing the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and division of
Poland between Germany and the USSR, Latvia was forced to sign a treaty with the USSR on
placement of military bases on the territory of Latvia. On 16 June 1940, the USSR demanded the
change of government in Latvia and immediate permission for the presence of the Red Army in
Latvia. The next day the USSR occupied Latvia, Soviet tanks entered Riga and captured the
strategical objects.
Waves of mass deportations swallowed different regions of the USSR during
collectivisation and terror campaigns of the 1930s. In the first year of Soviet occupation, about
8
35,000 Latvians, especially the intelligentsia, were deported to eastern portions of the USSR,
many of them to prison camps in Siberia. The first large-scale deportation in Latvia occurred on
the 14th of June 1941. That night, about 15,500 Latvian residents (0.8% of the population) –
among which there were 2400 children – were arrested without a warrant. One of the best-known
contemporary Latvian film directors V. Kairiss said: “Deportation is one of the principal factors
of the Latvian history, and we can build our collective consciousness on it. I believe, we should
speak here more not about victims, but about the strength that allowed to survive.” That period of
time is monikered in Latvia as the ‘year of terror’.
During the German invasion of the USSR, from July 1941 to October 1944, Latvia was a
province of a larger Ostland, which included Estonia, Lithuania, and Belarus. Many Latvians
were recruited into German military units during the Nazi occupation.
Shortly after the liberation of Latvia, in 1944, the country was re-occupied by the Soviet
Union and remained as such until 1991. Many Latvians fled in fishermen's boats and ships to
Sweden and Germany, from where until 1951 they drifted to various parts of the Western world
(mostly Australia and North America). Approximately 150,000 Latvians ended up in exile in the
West.
The two Soviet occupations of Lithuania
9
Following the secret 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact between the Soviet Union and
Germany, the Soviet Union occupied Lithuania on 15 June 1940 and formally annexed it on the
3 August 1940. The occupation continued until the 31st of August 1993. The Soviet authorities
carried out deportations, mass killings, imprisonment, and sovietification of the Lithuanian
people and Soviet colonists were settled in Lithuania. Soviet-oriented historians have tried to
justify the mass deportations by appealing to Lithuanian partisan activity, but in fact the
deportations were largely directed against the so-called ‘enemies of the people’ of which a
majority had never been partisans. Altogether the Soviets deported 12 percent of the population.
A rough estimate is that during the period 1940-1990 Lithuania lost one third of its population
due to war, destruction and repressions, as well as to emigration and deportations a total equal to
about one million citizens.
The first Soviet occupation of Lithuania was followed by the German occupation from
1941 to 1944. The occupational regime of Germany was also based on extreme violence and
repression, and mass exterminations of the population were carried out. It lasted until the end of
World War II.
Lithuania met the second Soviet occupation (1944-1991) unprepared and disorganised.
Because of the experience from the first Soviet occupation, there was much determination to
fight, but there were no battle plans or outlines and, most importantly, there was no political or
10
military leadership. Some leaders of the anti-Soviet and anti-Nazi resistance had been put in
German camps and prisons, and many higher rank officers and patriotic officers had been sent to
Siberia or were executed during the first Soviet occupation. Other officers, fearful of the Red
terror, had escaped to the West. Almost all of the Lithuanian army’s highranking officers, who
might have been expected to organise resistance, had fled into exile.
The two Soviet occupations of Estonia
My narrative here begins at the same point of history as in the previous two examples – in
1939 – when the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was signed. Estonia was then forced by the Soviet
Union to sign a mutual assistance pact that allowed the Soviet army to occupy Estonia.
The first Soviet occupation was a regime of terror, with mass arrests, executions and mass
deportations to remote areas of the Soviet Union. Those arrested and executed were mostly
leading politicians and officials from the former independent republic.
The second Soviet occupation (1944-1990) after the Second World War was a follow-up
to the first occupation. The Soviet occupation was followed by a Nazi occupation after Nazi
Germany’s attack on the Soviet Union. Many people expected a new independent Estonia when
11
the Soviet army was forced out of the country but the reality was that the Nazis simply became
the new occupying power.
The deportations took place from 1944 until 1953. The biggest mass deportation occurred
in 1949 and included all the Baltic countries. Around 21,000 Estonians, or 2.5% of the
population, were deported to remote parts of the Soviet Union. That particular deportation
included 7,500 families. 50% of those affected were women and 35% were children under the
age of 16, only a half of them were able to return to Estonia later.
14,000-15,000 armed Estonian partisans or guerrillas, so-called Forest Brothers,
participated in the armed resistance against the occupying forces. The movement reached its
peak in 1946-1947 and came to an end in practice in 1956. About 2,000 of them died in a single
battle against KGB. The unarmed resistance or dissident activities were focused on the
underground production and distribution of uncensored literature and pamphlets as well as
providing information to the West (often through Western journalists).
Modern diplomatic relations between Russian Federation and the Baltic States were
exacerbated by Russia’s unwillingness to pay reparations or any compensation for an abuse or
injuries caused by USSR. Russia is the legal successor of the Soviet Union has never issued an
12
official apology or even acknowledged the fact such atrocities took place. Latvia demanded 300
billion USD in reparations on numerous occasions, it was later joined by Lithuania and Estonia,
every case was dismissed by the Russian government and was not made public.
Psychologists argue that most emotional abuse has roots in an inability to apologise
adequately for what starts out as inadvertent insensitivity. Political apologies can be a powerful
tool in the re-examination of a nation's history, and the significance this history has on
diplomatic relations.
It is hard to underestimate the struggles of the Baltic States during USSR reign. The
countries’ ethnic and economic heritage was devastated. As we can see, the resistance in all three
countries had existed but it was rather rudimental, with many high ranked politicians and militia
going into exile and fleeing to the West. A scenario like that is inevitable when the vast minority
of citizens of a state fight against dictatorship.
The Baltic States were resisting USSR as much as they could. But so do the Russians. It
is impossible to defeat the regime without Russian dissidents educating fellow Russians about
the conflict. The aim of this essay is not to elicit sympathy towards Russians as a nation but to
recognise the presence and existence of the resistance in Russian society. It does exist and
13
everyone who is against the government is in danger of imprisonment at least. And just like
Ukrainians, Palestinians, Rohingya, Tigray and Rwandans they do have the right to seek safety.
As Amnesty International notes "Everyone should be allowed to enter another country to
seek asylum – it’s a human right. The process should be fair and effective, but in reality, many
governments leave asylum-seekers without a final answer for years. Others are sent back to
countries where their lives could be in real danger. "5
UNHCR echoes that: "States are responsible for protecting the fundamental human rights
of their citizens. When they are unable or unwilling to do so – often for political reasons or based
on discrimination – individuals may suffer such serious violations of their human rights that they
have to leave their homes, their families and their communities to find sanctuary in another
country. Since, by definition, refugees are not protected by their own governments, the
international community steps in to ensure they are safe and protected. "6
5
https://www.amnesty.org/en/i-welcome-community-2/welcoming-refugees-solutions/
6
https://www.unhcr.org/about-us/background/4ec262df9/1951-convention-relating-status-refugees-its-1967-
protocol.html
14
I would like to finish with the quote of the head of the European department of Pro Asyl
human rights organisation, Karl Kopp: "According to EU law, those who escape a war that
violates international law have a right to asylum and protection. In this sense, Germany and
Europe must now unbureaucratically organize the admission of the people who vote with their
feet against the Russian war of aggression."
15
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13. Lithuania Calls on All Member States to Ban Russian Tourists
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Горбачеве (и, конечно, телеканале «Дождь»)
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протесты
https://www.sibreal.org/a/russkoe-gosudarstvo-kak-vampir/32162906.html
17. Russians Seeking Refuge in Israel Face a Cruel Reception
17
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/haaretz-today/2022-10-03/ty-article/.premium/russiansseeking-refuge-in-israel-face-a-cruel-reception/00000183-9e8c-deb9-a5c7-febc12370000
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https://eur-lex.europa.eu/content/news/eu-measures-solidarity-ukraine.html
19. Operation ‘brain Drain’: Help Russian Talent Flow West By Nicholas Eberstadt
https://www.aei.org/foreign-and-defense-policy/operation-brain-drain-help-russian-talent-flowwest/
20. Exiting from the Soviet Union: Emigrés or Refugees?
https://repository.law.umich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1861&context=mjil
21. Soviet Exiles
https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/immigration/polish-russian/soviet-exiles/
22. Much of Russia’s intellectual elite has fled the country
https://www.economist.com/international/2022/08/09/much-of-russias-intellectual-elite-has-fledthe-country