The exact number of ethnic Ukrainians in Russia is not known. But their presence is not only a thorn in the side of the Kremlin, but a potential source of upheaval within the Russian Federation.
When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year, Moscow-born Ukrainian Marika Semenenko decided to flee abroad. “It was clear from the beginning that it would be impossible to speak out against the war and staying silent wasn’t an option for me,” the entrepreneur and activist who has since settled in Armenia told The Moscow Times. “My mom got really scared and told me ‘first they will kill all Ukrainians there and then they will come for the Ukrainians in Russia’.” Kremlin rhetoric delegitimizing Ukrainian statehood and linking Ukrainians with “Nazis” amid the 15-month invasion has made it increasingly risky for anyone in Russia to display a public affiliation with Kyiv, putting unprecedented pressure on Russia’s large Ukrainian diaspora and tearing families apart.