Please watch this recording of our webinar:
Diaspora Russian War Resisters and Evaders Speak Out
Time Stamps:
5:15 - Andre Kameshikov, Ukraine
17:19 - Konstantin Samoilov, Uzbekistan
26:00 - Nikita Rakhimov, Kazakhstan
32:00 - Evgeni Lyamin, Georgia
40:10 - Alexei Prokhorenko, Poland
47:45 - Questions and Answers
They movingly shared their stories of exile and opposition to this Russian invasion. They talked about the plight of hundreds of thousands of people who are struggling against Russophobia and visa and financial challenges.
Please listen to these brave Russian voices who have not been heard amidst the din of war. Then, please help spread the word.
NVI Ukraine Director, Andre is now focusing on supporting the anti-war movement in Russia. In March-May, he traveled to many countries to which thousands of Russian war evaders and conscientious objectors have fled. He interviewed some of them and surveyed the plight of diaspora war evaders and has written a short report of his findings. You can find this and other report here.
NVI is hosted a webinar on June 26, 2023 to provide a space for Russians who have fled the war to speak out. Speakers will include NVI-Ukraine Director Andre Kamenshikov and Konstantin Samoilov, now based in Uzbekistan, who will speak about the situation of diaspora war resisters and evaders today. Hundreds of thousands of Russians fled the war to neighboring countries such as Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Armenia, Lithuania, Poland and Germany. The resistance and plight have not been heard. NVI will also present its plans for organizing communication groups of diaspora to share alternative information with their families and friends in Russia.
Konstantin Samoilov is a Russian energy corporation executive turned an anti-war political activist in exile in Uzbekistan now, the host of INSIDE RUSSIA daily show on YouTube and the creator of Tashkent International Breakfast Club where Russians and Ukrainians meet, make amends and heal. Konstantin’s goals are to shed light on current Russian regime’s actions, to stop Russian aggression in Ukraine, to promote future transformation of Russia, to help Ukraine and to create on-line and off-line international communities where repentance, healing and forgiveness takes place.
Andre Kamenshikov, Director, NVI-Ukraine
Andre Kamenshikov is the director of NVI Ukraine and the regional coordinator of the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC) in Eastern Europe. He has worked as a civil peacebuilding activist in conflict zones throughout the ex-USSR for over 30 years, including as the founder of Nonviolence International–CIS, a civil society organization operating in post-Soviet states for 22 years until its closure due to political backlash in Russia. Kyiv-based for the past eight years, Andre works with the local civil society sector to build capacity to contribute to peace and democratic development in Ukraine. He is the author of a number of publications about the role of civil society in post-Soviet conflicts, including “International Experience of Civilian Peacebuilding in the Post-Soviet Space” and “Strategic Framework for the Development of Civil Peacebuilding Activities in Ukraine."
Nikita Rakhimov is a psychologist-psychotherapist living in Kazakhstan. He now works with Russians who have fled and emigrated in connection with the mobilization for war. Nikita has set up a messaging platform to provide psychological support for other Russian emigres avoiding conscription.
Evgeni Lyamin is a 25 year old civil activist from Moscow, engaging in civil activities focusing on humanitarian and anti-war issues in Tbilisi, Georgia. He is the founder of Emigration for Action, a humanitarian aid organization which fundraises to purchase medical supplies and essential goods for refugees of the war. He is the former Media Literacy & Critical Thinking Training Program Coordinator at "Was It in the News?" and former organizer & editor at Space Policy. Evgeni left Russia right after the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Alexei Prokhorenko, independent journalist from Russia, now living in Warsaw, Poland. Alexei left Moscow in late September 2022, after partial mobilization was announced in Russia
Hosted by Barbara Wien
Since 1981, Barbara Wien has worked to end human rights abuses, violence, war, and ecological destruction. She has protected civilians from the death squads in conflict zones and worked to establish 280 programs in the study of peace and conflict resolution on campuses around the world. Barbara is a public scholar and peace practitioner with extensive knowledge of gender violence, peacebuilding, nonviolent social movements, and the political economy of war. She has edited and written 27 books and articles, led eight non-profits, and taught at six universities. Recognized for her leadership and “moral courage” five times by foundations and academic societies, Barbara won the 2022 Mohanji Foundation Award for "Visionary Leadership", and named "Peace Educator of the Year" in 2018 by the Peace & Justice Studies Association (PJSA), a network of 500 campuses in Canada and the U.S. Her students voted her “Professor with the Greatest Impact” in 2018 and 2019, and graduate students voted her “My Favorite Professor” in 2015 and 2017. She was featured in Amy Goodman’s book Exceptions to the Rulers (2003), and the Progressive magazine for opposing the military invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq as a U.S. government official. Her interviews include Canadian Broadcasting, the BBC, Progressive Radio International (PRI), The Washington Post, NBC Nightly News, Defense One, National Public Radio, Australian Broadcasting, Nuclear Times, and further broadcasts in India, Uganda, Zambia, Palestine-Israel, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
Winner of the 2022 Mohanji Foundation International Award for Visionary Leadership
"Public Policy and My Journey to Activism," Chapter 9 in Environmental Ethics, 3rd Edition, edited by Michael Boylan, 2022
SIS professor @barbarawien joined Eleanor LeCain on the All Together Now podcast to discuss what’s happening on the ground in Ukraine and options to support Ukrainians, including with nonviolent resistance. https://t.co/IaCm1IeROB
— AU SIS (@AU_SIS) June 7, 2022
Police Officers Arresting Protesters in St.Petersburg (Source: Aljazeera)
Demonstrators for Peace (Source - Dmitry Serebryakov/AP Photo)