CHILLING

Names of Russia’s Wartime Émigrés Found in Database on Black Market

The database was reportedly compiled over the last three months and could be used by the Kremlin.

Wartime émigrés from Russia have had their data stolen and sold on the black market, where it was used to create a list of Russians who have left the country in the aftermath of the war in Ukraine, according to the independent Russian news outlet Agentstvo. The database lists people who left Russia for more than two months between 2022 and 2024, with three reasons listed for the émigrés’ departure: the February 2022 invasion, Russia’s partial military mobilization in September 2022, and the June 2023 Wagner mercenary coup in Russia. Agentstvo reported that the database provider who stole the information compiled the list of émigrés from leaked airline databases, and the list also includes people who left the country by foot through borders, by sea, and by car. The publication also reported that the database was compiled within the last three months and may be used “for repression” by Russia’s government. An estimated 700,000 to 1.5 million Russians have left Russia since the start of the war in Ukraine.