Publications and Media
Publications & Media
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
Peer-Reviewed
Communist and Post-Communist Studies (2026) • Scopus Web of Science Core Collection (SSCI)
Abstract
How do grassroots feminist movements convert moral shock into sustained resistance under war, repression, and exile? This article examines the diasporic wing of the Feminist Anti-War Resistance (FAR/FAS), a transnational network of Russian feminists formed in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Drawing on 56 in-depth interviews with activists in 25 countries, it conceptualizes FAS as an affective infrastructure that joins affect, meaning, and materiality to enable emotional survival and political resistance. Extending Ward’s micromobilization model, the article advances the concept of productive mediation—a feminist process that transforms morally charged emotions into politically meaningful action and sustained participation. FAS’s repertoire—symbolic performances, embodied signals, grief activism, and care-based practices—creates an emotionally resonant, low-threshold path into and back to collective action in diasporic and authoritarian settings. The analysis shows how alignment of ideology, horizontal and decentralized structure, and ritual lowers entry costs, supports withdrawal and return after burnout, and renders dissent durable. The article contributes to three literatures: affect theory and micromobilization; feminist scholarship on exile and forced migration; and research on transnational feminist infrastructures under authoritarianism. It argues that FAS does not treat emotional labor as ancillary to politics but centers it as a generative force. Rather than merely enduring the emotional fallout of war, FAS channels difficult emotions—grief, guilt, and fear—into collective feminist action, making participation emotionally bearable and sustainable over time.
Peer-Reviewed
The February Journal, (01-02), 63-103 (2023)
Abstract
The article is devoted to reflecting on silence and speaking in the dreams of people in Russia after the 24th of February 2022. Our two-stage analysis of dream narratives and dreamers’ comments on them uncovers several key topics related to speaking and silence. Interpreting them with the apparatus of sociology, we conclude that these dreams provide a space for restoring agency that had been lost in real life. Available both in English and Russian.
Peer-reviewed
Russian Analytical Digest, 10(316), 13–18 (2024). DOI: 10.3929/ethz-b-000692533
Description / Abstract
Are men truly more engaged in politics, or do they just talk a good game? Since February 2022, over a million Russians have fled political repression, and among them, a surge in female activism has emerged, challenging traditional gender roles. Despite having fewer resources than men, Russian women are more politically and civically active abroad. This reverse gender gap has been observed in interviews with exiled activists and consistently documented in the OutRush survey.
Working Papers
Advanced Draft / Under Review
Moral Responsibility and the Reverse Gender Gap: Political Activism Among Russian Post-2022 Emigrants
Advanced Draft / Under Review
Abstract
This paper examines gender differences in political activism among Russian anti-war emigrants who left the country following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Drawing on original survey data (N = 1,734) and 68 in-depth interviews, the study analyzes participation across four repertoires of anti-war activism: street protests, digital activism, financial support for independent Russian NGOs and media, and assistance to Ukrainian refugees. Contrary to classical theories predicting lower political participation among migrant women, the findings reveal a reverse gender gap: women demonstrate higher overall engagement, particularly in beneficiary-oriented and digital forms of activism, while no significant gender difference emerges in street protest participation. The paper argues that this pattern is not primarily explained by political socialization or migration-related constraints, but by stronger war-related moral appraisals among women, especially perceived moral responsibility and support for reparative action. The study contributes to research on political participation, gender and migration, and the emotional dynamics of transnational activism under authoritarianism.
Working Paper
Transnational Repression and Engagement: Evidence from a Panel of Russian Exiles
Working Paper. To be presented at APSA 2026 and ECPR 2026.
Abstract
Transnational repression (TNR), authoritarian states’ efforts to monitor, intimidate, and punish their citizens abroad, has become an escalating threat to opposition communities in exile. Existing scholarship argues that TNR can be highly effective at demobilizing and atomizing diasporas by raising the perceived costs of political voice from abroad. Yet most evidence comes from qualitative studies, limiting our ability to estimate TNR’s overall effect on political participation. This study addresses these gaps using a unique panel survey of Russian citizens who left Russia after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 in opposition to the Putin regime. We document diaspora members’ exposure to various forms of TNR, including legal repression, sentences in absentia, interrogation at border control, restrictions on consular services, and proxy repression of exiles’ relatives. We implement a difference-in-differences design to estimate how direct and indirect exposure to TNR influences political participation and political remittances.
Working Paper
Destination Preferences in Secondary Migration Among Politically Induced Migrants from Authoritarian States: Evidence from a Conjoint Experiment
Working Paper
Working Paper
The Gendered Opportunity Structure of Exile: How Host-Country Contexts Shape Migrant Political Participation
Working Paper
Working Paper
Two Percent of Trust: Methodological Innovations for Retaining Fearful Respondents in Panel Surveys
Working Paper
Working Paper
New Russian Migration to Latin America: Mobile Middle Classes, Flight from Illiberalism, and the Formation of New Urban Communities
Working Paper
Reports & Policy Briefs
Analytical Report
OutRush, March 2025
Description / Summary
This report investigates the lives of Russians who emigrated after February 2022, based on longitudinal data from the OutRush project. The primary focus is on emigrants’ adaptation processes, political activity, and connections with Russia.
Analytical Report
OutRush, July 2025
Description / Summary
This OutRush report explores the characteristics, experiences, and motivations of Russian emigrants in Latin America, focusing primarily on those who left after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Based on responses from 938 participants, the report highlights political reasons, safety concerns, and the threat of mobilization as key drivers of migration.
Expert Report
Report for the European Commission, May 2025
Description / Summary
This report highlights the need for targeted policies and programs that address both the contributions and vulnerabilities of cultural workers in exile. The findings are intended to inform policymakers, cultural institutions, and support organizations in developing effective strategies to support this group of exiled cultural workers.
Analytical Report
OutRush — Analytical Report, Wave 3, January 2024
Description / Аннотация
OutRush is a longitudinal study of Russian emigrants who left after February 24, 2022. The project tracks changes in emigrants’ lives, their relationships with host societies, and their ties with Russia. Three survey waves have been conducted; this report is based on the third wave, conducted in May–July 2023.
Проект OutRush — это лонгитюдное исследование российских эмигрантов, уехавших после 24 февраля 2022 года. Цель исследования — отследить изменения в жизни эмигрантов, динамику их отношений с принимающими обществами и страной исхода.
Non-Peer-Reviewed Publications
Media Essay
How do you sleep during the war? / Как тебе спится во время войны?
Posle Media / После Медиа, 23 March 2023
Podcasts & Public Interviews
Expert Interview
Republic, 2024
Podcast Episode
Meduza, “What Happened” Podcast, 2 January 2024
Media Interview
Sigma, 15 September 2023
Media Interview
Paper, 30 November 2022
Alumni Interview
European University at Saint Petersburg, 18 March 2021
Public Speaking & Lectures
Conference Paper
War doesn’t have a woman’s face? Political behaviour and civic engagement of Russian post-war migrants: the gender dimension from the OutRush Longitudinal Study, June 2023
Invited Guest Lecture
Public Lecture at the Summer School GENDER-LIKBEZ 4.0, European University at St. Petersburg, April 2023
Invited Lecture
Public science lecture series on fiction and documentary film
Guest speaker at cultural spaces in St. Petersburg, 2022
Political Vlog
Politics Anew / Политика Заново, Issue 1, 2021
References & Acknowledgements
Report
Sergeeva, I., Kamalov, E., 15 January 2024
Preprint
Zavadskaya, M., Sergeeva, I., and Kamalov, E. SocArXiv, 23 December 2023. DOI: 10.31235/osf.io/3dnsv
Report
Kamalov, E., Sergeeva, I., Zavadskaya, M., and Kostenko, V. SocArXiv, 20 May 2023
Media Coverage
Paper, 8 April 2022