Russian wartime migrants are becoming one of Europe’s favorite bugbears. European policymakers, activists and leaders present them with two contradictory demands. The first is that the exiles must show more overt support for Ukraine. The second is that Russians should become invisible. 

These demands are impossible to reconcile. Therefore, the solution for the wartime diaspora lies not in becoming a model minority but in building solidarity with the other migrant diasporas in Europe and around the world. Exiled Russian politicians who try to sit on both chairs will invariably fall on the floor, losing support of both Russian diaspora or European hardliners. 

The hundreds of thousands of Russians who fled for Europe sacrificed a lot over the past four years. Many lost income, housing and relationships. Once in Europe, they faced high taxes, lackluster infrastructure and infuriating bureaucracy. Many of these Russians also potentially landed themselves and their loved ones on the Kremlin’s blacklists by merely building new lives in “unfriendly countries.”

Presumably, many of them fled for Europe because they saw themselves as European. Fascinated by their image of European civilization they are so committed to their White European self-image that many are reluctant to identify as migrants, preferring instead to call themselves relocants or expats. 

Many of the migrants view President Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine as an assault on European civilization, and themselves as a part of that civilization. Therefore in 2022 they expected that Europe would naturally welcome fleeing Russians and integrate them into the pan-European infrastructure helping Ukraine beat back Putin's army. And so they set to work building scores of anti-war initiatives and fundraisers. They did not limit themselves to non-lethal aid either. Russian migrants still fundraise for the Ukrainian military and remotely sign missile shells being fired at Russian soldiers. 

This is historically unprecedented for an anti-war movement in the developed world. Westerners might have been willing to fundraise and........

© The Moscow Times