UACES Blog Post: Is Russian Anti-War Emigrees in Serbia A Short-Term Mass Phenomenon?
1) Scholarly Interest in Russian Emigrees
The immigration politics across Europe receive a greater actuality in the context of Russia’s full-fledged invasion in Ukraine. The war prompted mass forced emigration not only from Ukraine, where the mass destruction takes place, but also from Russia, where repressions take various forms, as I demonstrated in my recently published books, first, “Diversity of Migrant Entrepreneurship in Varieties of European Capitalism. Post-Soviet Entrepreneurship in Austria, Spain, and Hungary” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2023), and second, “Global Crises, Resilience, and Future Challenges. Experiences of Post-Yugoslav and Post-Soviet Migrants” (Ibidem Press, 2024). Simultaneously, many of the European Union’s (EU) immediate responses to Russia’s full-fledged invasion in Ukraine were increasing restrictions in issuing visas for Russian citizens across Europe and increased controls at the EU – Russia borders. One of the questions that I address in my research is, how do immigration regimes shape Russians’ immigration in Europe? This question is conceptually situated in the scholarly discussions concerning the EU immigration and integration policies.
2) Recent Immigration of Russians in Serbia
Building upon these findings, I embarked on an exploration of immigration politics towards Russian anti-war emigrees in the European Union (EU) candidate countries of the Western Balkans. Through my initial research in Serbia, I found that this country, which counts about 6 million population, received between 100000 and 400000 Russian immigrants since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. Thanks to UACES’ Microgrant, in January 2025, I made a short field trip to Serbia, where I met and conducted interviews Russian anti-war emigrees, and by using their services and by attending some of their events, I analyzed their motives to immigrate in Serbia and economic activities. Russians’ in-mass exodus to Serbia provides a certain political paradox: while majority of the Russians currently residing in Serbia represent young anti-war emigrants and Putin’s regime opponents, close ties between Russian and Serbian authoritarian political leaders provided them with visa-free access to Serbia.
3) Are Russian Immigrants in Serbia Short-Term Phenomenon?
As I noted in “Global Crises, Resilience, and Future Challenges”, “it is essential to distinguish between people and states, especially in non-democratic regimes, as they are very different units and actors.” My initial findings from Serbia confirm this statement: my interlocutors revealed that many of them – relokanty (migrants) as they refer to themselves – in the beginning of the war first moved to visa-free countries territorially closer to Russia, such as Georgia, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Turkey. However, for a variety of reasons, they decided to move forward to the EU. Coming to Serbia, many of them found it both culturally close and convenient for living. Most of them are under forty years old, and they initially were employed by Russian companies, which relocated their offices to Serbia, such as the Russian tech giant, Yandex. However, after spending sometime in Serbia, most of Russian immigrants quit their jobs in large Russian companies and founded their small businesses. Most of my interlocutors expressed intension to stay in Serbia for a long-term. Similarly, most of them expressed deep sympathy with the current Serbian students’ mass anti-corruption protests.
4) Russian Immigrants’ Current Impact on Serbia
Seemingly endless number of restaurants, cafes, and small shops with Russian titles, and Russian language heard on every corner of Belgrade, making the portrayal of the city vibrant as never before. Relying on the theory built in “Diversity of Migrant Entrepreneurship in Varieties of European Capitalism”, I also found that Serbia resembles dependent market economy of Visegrad Four group of post-socialist countries in the early 2000s, before they joined the EU. Some Serbia’s official sources demonstrated that Serbia’s remarkable economic growth in 2023-2024 is owing to the large number of Russian immigrants in Serbia. At the same time, Serbia’s immigration policy, which particularly resembles the process of Hungary’s immigration regime at the time of its’ emergence in 2010-2012, has not moved further from visa-free regime for these Russian citizens, with largely liberal political views. It remains a question, whether and to what extent will they be enabled to contribute to further economic growth and democratic reforms in Serbia, and the country’s EU integration.
