Four years after Russia’s wartime exodus began, another wave may be starting. Political scientist Margarita Zavadskaya on what we’ve learned about Russian emigration since 2022.

Four years after Russia’s wartime exodus began, another wave may be starting. Political scientist Margarita Zavadskaya on what we’ve learned about Russian emigration since 2022.

In 2026, Russians are once again leaving the country en masse . They will find themselves at the start of a long journey to build a new life almost from scratch. At the same time, many migrants have already changed several countries — and still haven’t found a place where they’ll stay for long. Others have found a genuine new home, while still others have returned to Russia altogether. We spoke with political scientist Margarita Zavadskaya, a senior research fellow at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs and one of the co-founders of the OutRush project, which studies Russian emigration, about adapting abroad, the conflict between “those who left” and “those who stayed,” and the differences between the various waves of emigration.