Empowered Exile or Inhibited Action? Anti-War Russian Diaspora Organizations in the EU

Abstract

This paper examines whether anti-war Russian diaspora organizations in European Union member states experience their exile as empowered or, on the contrary, as inhibited. By summarizing the findings of previous studies on Russian exiles' access to media presence, freedom of association, and advantageous political networks, the analysis suggests that while empowerment may vary between countries, significant doubts remain that their exile in the EU can be considered empowered. The revealed inhibited nature of exile may be attributed to the lack of a coordinated approach among EU member states toward the new wave of politically active Russian migrants, as previously noted by Shamiev and Luchenko (2024).