Voice, exit and voice again: democratic remittances by recent Russian emigrants to the EU

This article contributes to the research on diasporic and migrant communities’ engagement the democratisation of their home countries. It focuses on the case of the most recent wave of political emigration from Russia that has taken place during President Putin’s third term. It confirms the thesis that emigration, particularly forced emigration, whereby political dissidents are squeezed out from their country by the authorities in hopes of calming simmering political protest, has stopped being the safety valve it once was. Drawing on Levitt’s seminal work on social remittances, it analyses the content and channels of political remittances by recent Russian emigrants. In terms of the democratic remittances’ content, six main broadly defined thematic areas of mobilisation can be distinguished: free and fair elections; human rights and civil freedoms; fighting corruption; environmental protection; anti-war activities; counteracting Russian propaganda and the ‘hybrid war’. The channels of these democratic remittances are divided into direct (activities targeted at the Russian society) and indirect ones (targeted at Russian diaspora and political elites and society in the receiving countries). It draws the attention to immeasurable political remittances, those which cannot be easily assessed, yet undeniably impact the country of origin and its society.