"Is Putin’s Ideological Push at Russian Universities Sustainable?"
by Ivan Fomin (Statism Lab @ideasforrussia.bsky.social),
Sofia Chernysheva (Ideas for Russia),
Egor Kozhevnikov (@charlesuni.cuni.cz),
Daniel Nedolyan (Yerevan State University)

russiapost.info/politics/ide...

Full report:
nemtsovfund.org/cp/wp-conten...

IFR Displacement Lab @ideasforrussia.bsky.social:
– Anna Kuleshova, Ph.D.,
– Polina Aronson, Ph.D.,
– Andrey Frolov,
– Aurora Vettori Levorin,
– Varvara Shipnevskaia

Challenges unique to families with children:
– Integration in new education systems to minimize stress for kids.
– Establishing “parallel” Russian-speaking structures (schools, clubs).
– Financial and time costs of kids’ adaptation, including language learning and lifestyle changes.

Conditions for return: One-fifth of respondents has not sold their apartments in Russia or rented them out, viewing them as a key asset for potential return. Conditions for return include the end of the war, a change in political regime, and economic stabilization.

Mobility in emigration: One-third of families moved within or between host countries, often seeking better conditions for their children.

Changes in families: In most of the surveyed nuclear families, one parent, often the mother, lost their job in their field. Emigration altered family roles: parents spend more time with kids and take on all responsibilities for their upbringing without the help of grandparents.

Russian-language initiatives: Most of the surveyed parents choose additional activities and classes for their children in Russian-speaking centers. When these aren't available, emigrants establish their own cultural centers for Russian-speaking children (like in Serbia and Portugal).

Interactions with Ukrainians: Despite tensions, respondents noted non-confrontational interactions between Russian and Ukrainian children. For instance, Russian and Ukrainian kids communicate during children's parties, even when their parents' interactions are difficult.

Surveyed Russian emigrants praise foreign educational systems for their humanistic approach and care for children but point out a lack of discipline and weaker STEM teaching.

Children’s adaptation: Children from the surveyed Russian émigré families adapt more easily to new environments through schools and extracurricular activities. At the same time, parents often create a Russian-speaking cultural environment for their children.

Maintaining connections: All surveyed families maintain contact with relatives and friends in Russia, despite differing views.

Challenges of integration: Surveyed Russian emigrants rarely form stable connections with local residents. Challenges they face are often unfamiliar to citizens of host countries, creating barriers to interaction.

Attitudes to other Russian emigrants: Respondents do not differentiate between “economic” and “political” migrants. Those who left Russia deliberately before 2022 actively assist new waves of emigrants through communities, chats, and support groups.

Emigration as a resource for mutual support: In six out of twenty cases, respondents changed their professional focus, creating projects to support other Russian-speaking emigrants.

Respondents' financial situation before emigration:

75% reported a family's income level as average,
10% had a high income,
15% faced financial difficulties.

This influenced their ability to adapt to new environments.

85% of surveyed families left Russia due to political repression or disagreement with the situation in the country. Emigration was often accompanied by concerns for the safety and future of their children.