Acting Together Outside Politics: Russian and Ukrainian Volunteers Helping Ukrainian Refugees in Tbilisi

This article examines the dynamic of depoliticization among and between Russian and Ukrainian volunteers and the Ukrainian refugees they supported in Tbilisi, Georgia over three years following the launch of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Drawing on Camille Hamidi’s observations on the depoliticization of interaction between disparate groups in NGO environments, the author identifies a similar process in a Russian-led organization which, despite its otherwise politically active volunteers, was distinctly lacking in polemicized debate. Interviews and ethnographic fieldwork uncovered a number of contributing factors, from explicit policies of the organization’s leadership to the sensibilities of the volunteers and refugees. In a departure from Hamidi’s findings, the article concludes with the observation that the depoliticization found in this NGO contributed to the frustration and degradation of interpersonal bonds within the organization in the long term, rather than a productive papering-over of differences.