During the Russo-Ukrainian war (2022–present) since February 2022, more than 300,000 Russian citizens and residents are estimated to have left Russia by mid-March 2022, at least 500,000 by the end of August 2022, and an additional 400,000 by early October, for a total of approximately 900,000. This number includes economic migrants, conscientious objectors, and some political refugees. However, many emigrants have returned to Russia in the ongoing process, sometimes due to hostility and discrimination, but also because of other factors, such as the difficulty of legalisation, finding stable work, and a flourishing community. At the same time, more than 70% of Russian emigrants said they were afraid of repression by the Russian government.

Reasons for exodus

There have been at least three waves of Russian emigration.

First wave In the first wave, immediately after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, journalists, politicians, and tech workers fled. Many sought to evade criminal prosecution for exercising free speech regarding the invasion. In March, President Vladimir Putin introduced prison sentences of up to 15 years for publishing "fake news" about Russian military operations. More than 2,000 people were charged by May 2022 under the laws prohibiting "fake" information about the military. Nina Belyayeva, a Communist Party deputy in the Voronezh Oblast Legislative Assembly, stated that she fled Russia due to threats of criminal prosecution and imprisonment for having spoken against the invasion, saying, "I realized that it was better to leave now. Once a criminal case is opened, it could be too late." Journalist Boris Grozovski stated that "We are refugees. Personally, I was wanted by the police in Russia for distributing anti-war petitions... We ran not from bullets, bombs and missiles, but from prison. If I wrote what I write now while in Russia, I would inevitably go to prison for 15–20 years." Actress Chulpan Khamatova stayed in exile in Latvia after she signed a petition against the war in Ukraine. She stated: "it was made clear to me it would be undesirable for me to go back," adding "I know I am not a traitor. I love my motherland very much." Bolshoi Ballet dancer Olga Smirnova left Russia to continue her career in the Netherlands in protest of the war. As for tech workers, for many it was made clear that they would have to leave Russia as a condition of employment; in any case, many tech workers can work remotely. According to a Russian IT industry trade group, approximately 50,000–70,000 IT workers fled in the invasion's first month.

Among the Russians who left Russia after the invasion of Ukraine were pop musician Alla Pugacheva and comedian Maxim Galkin, television journalist Alexander Nevzorov, diplomat Boris Bondarev, politician and economist Anatoly Chubais, businessman Oleg Tinkov, rapper Oxxxymiron, activist Diana Isakova, theater director Dmitry Krymov, political activist Maxim Katz, former paratrooper Pavel Filatyev, political activist Lev Ponomaryov, the rave band Little Big, anti-war activist Grigory Sverdlin, director Kirill Serebrennikov, rock musician Zemfira, actress Renata Litvinova, journalists Yury Dud and Andrei Loshak, novelist Lyudmila Ulitskaya, film critic Anton Dolin and literary critic Galina Yuzefovich. Levada Center polls from 2022 indicated that there were at least 30 million pro-European Russians who opposed the war, but very few of them were able to leave Russia. Galina Yuzefovich said that leaving Russia is a "privilege" for those who can "afford it".

As of December 2022, more than 4,000 people were prosecuted under "fake news" laws in connection with the war in Ukraine. Russian journalist Maria Ponomarenko was sentenced to six years in prison for publishing information about the Mariupol theatre airstrike. At least 1,000 Russian journalists have fled Russia since February 2022.

Second wave A second wave became apparent by July 2022, and this wave consisted more generally of middle and upper class people and parents who had required longer to prepare to emigrate, for example; people with businesses or people who had to wait for their children's school year to end.

In June, it was expected that around 15,000 millionaires would leave Russia in 2022.

Third wave

Following Putin's announcement of partial mobilization on 21 September 2022, a third wave of Russian emigration began, with estimates of hundreds of thousands of male citizens fleeing. In the first week after the announcement, 98,000 Russians fled to Kazakhstan. On 24 September alone over 8,500 Russians entered Finland by land, a 62% increase on the previous Saturday. On the following day, it was reported that "On the border with Georgia, queues of Russian cars stretch back more than ," while at checkpoints bordering the regions of Kostanay and Western Kazakhstan, "footage of cars queuing to leave Russia show lines that stretch as far as the eye can see."

In this third wave alone, nearly 300,000 Russian citizens had left Russia before 27 September, with that number approaching 400,000 by 4 October. An upper estimate is for 700,000 Russians to have fled mobilization since it was announced. Many went to Kazakhstan, Serbia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Georgia, and Finland.

On 28 October, Russian president Vladimir Putin announced that mobilization had been completed, though legally it still continues. After that some people continued to emigrate for political and economic reasons, while some decided to return home.

Putin signed a decree introducing prison terms of up to 15 years for wartime acts, including voluntary surrender and desertion during mobilization or war.

Actor Artur Smolyaninov fled Russia in October 2022. He was charged for "discrediting" the military under the "fake news" laws, for making anti-war statements after he had left Russia.

Destinations Among the destinations chosen by Russian nationals are Turkey, with more than 100,000 Russians seeking residence, many using Turkish Airlines to fly to Antalya. Georgia and Armenia also received large numbers. By early April, an estimated 100,000 Russians had fled to Georgia, and 50,000 went to Armenia. In 2022, 104,000 Russian citizens have registered their stay in Serbia.

In Latin America, by January 2023, Argentina received more than 5,000 pregnant Russian women , who chose to have their children there due to the ease of obtaining a visa, the automatic obtaining of free healthcare, and nationality for the newborn. In 2023, 37,700 Russians entered Argentina and 13,000 within the first three months of 2024; with 3,750 of them gaining residence.

Other major destinations include Azerbaijan, the United Arab Emirates, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Spain, Israel, Tajikistan, Mongolia, Latin American countries, the Baltic states, Australia, Canada and the United States.

As the majority of European countries closed their airspace to Russian flights following the invasion, Russians seeking to leave the country have often had to take detours through the Caucasus or have had to find overland routes. On 25 March 2022, the high-speed railway between Saint Petersburg and Helsinki was suspended by Finnish state railway operator VR, closing the last direct train route between Russia and the European Union. The route had previously been a significant passage out of Russia for Russian citizens, particularly those who already had work or residence connections to Finland and the rest of Europe.

Several EU countries, such as Latvia and the Czech Republic, have suspended granting visas to Russian citizens, complicating their exit from Russia. Some countries have allowed temporary stays without a visa. Turkey, for example, has allowed Russian citizens without visas to stay for up to two months. However, Finland, Poland, and the Baltic countries of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia announced they will not offer refuge to Russians fleeing mobilization. In contrast, Germany offered asylum to Russian oppositionists and conscripts who did not want to go to war with Ukraine.

Two Russian nationals claimed asylum in the United States after sailing in a small boat to Alaska.

At least five yachts carrying Russian nationals have attempted to enter a number of South Korean ports, but only two Russian passengers were allowed entry.

Most hotel rooms and Airbnbs in Kazakhstan were sold out to Russian immigrants within days.

In contrast to the official exit polls and results of the 2024 Russian presidential election both inside and outside of Russia, unofficial exit polls of the votes cast abroad showed a much poorer performance for Vladimir Putin. According to the Vote Abroad project, Putin won 3% in Serbia; 5% in Istanbul; Turkey; 6% in Argentina; 8% in Yerevan; Armenia, 9% in Kazakhstan; 10% in Thailand; 15% in Vietnam; and 16% in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Difficulties faced by emigrants Amnesty International noted that many Russian political emigrants, who entered the European Union on Schengen visas, become illegal immigrants after 90 days because they do not want to submit applications for asylum due to the impossibility of continuing their activities as journalists, human rights activists, etc. in such a case. In addition, many Russian oppositionists and representatives of civil society, who are in Russia or who had migrated to other non-safe countries from Russia (for example, to CIS-countries), do not have Schengen visas and have difficulties in obtaining them. In this regard, on 25 May 2022, Amnesty International encouraged the Cabinet of Germany to expand the programme of humanitarian admission () for Russians persecuted by Putin's regime. This programme should include humanitarian visa issuance and granting of temporary residence and work permits. According to the EU directive from 2022, member states should not accept visa applications from Russians in a third country.

Impact

Those who have fled tend to be young and well-educated professionals, leading some economists to suggest that the Russian brain drain is worsening. More than 50,000 Russian information technology specialists have left Russia.

Reactions

Azerbaijan On 1 July 2025, Azerbaijani authorities arrested eight Russian nationals who appeared in court in Baku with obvious signs of beatings, in apparent retaliation for the deaths of two Azerbaijanis in police custody in Yekaterinburg. Some of the Russian detainees were identified as IT professionals who fled to Azerbaijan after Russia announced partial mobilization in 2022.

Georgia Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, approximately 200,000 Russian citizens entered Georgia from Russia, of which 60,000 have remained in the country while others have crossed into Turkey and Armenia. The peak of migration came at the period of mobilization in Russia.

The migration has reportedly helped the Georgian economy to grow faster and the Georgian lari to steadily get stronger. However, the arrival of Russians has also reportedly made real estate prices skyrocket in Tbilisi; in November 2022, average real estate prices were 210% higher than 1 year prior. An important factor in this is that Russian migrants, often wealthy, are ready to pay much higher sums than Georgians for apartments. This has rendered rent unaffordable for some Georgian locals, exacerbating pre-existing tensions between Russians and Georgians caused by the recent Russo-Georgian War and the fact that 20% of Georgian territory is occupied by Russia.

Other causes of tension are cases of Russian migrants behaving aggressively and demanding to be served in Russian and to be allowed to pay in Russian rubles. Screenshots of alleged Russian users (from a large Telegram group of people crossing the Russo-Georgian border) complaining they were not allowed entry into Georgia because of Z signs on their cars went viral on the Georgian and Ukrainian internet.