Practically speaking, Russians who wish to join this group would be required to sign the Berlin Declaration, which sets out the key principles for a Ukrainian victory and a Russia without Putin. After passing the necessary checks, signatories would then be issued documents recognizing them as members of a “Free Russia,” which would allow them to obtain visas and enter all countries participating in the agreement.
This would create a powerful incentive for more Russians to disavow Putin and emigrate. Many of the over one million citizens who have already departed the Russian Federation are highly educated. And the more that leave Russia, the greater the “brain drain” Putin’s regime suffers, leaving fewer intellectual resources for him to develop new deadly technologies and fewer soldiers to send to the front.
Unfortunately, Russians who have left their country behind often find themselves in a state of limbo and at risk of politically motivated extradition, living, for the most part, in Georgia, Armenia, Turkey or Central Asian countries, unable to seek refuge in Europe. Many would gladly join in the fight against Putin openly. However, with expiring passports, uncertain residency and no representation, this is an impossibility.
These individuals aren’t in need of economic assistance — they’re fully capable of supporting themselves. The system we propose would give them the opportunity to help themselves, their families and the West by supporting the international struggle against Putinism openly and without fear.
If the idea sounds far-fetched or impractical, we point to a historical example that suggests otherwise: Nansen passports, developed for stateless persons in the political chaos following World War I, were issued by the League of Nations after the Russian government officially revoked the citizenship of hundreds of thousands of Russians abroad. Named after Norwegian politician Fridtjof Nansen, their chief promoter on the international stage, nearly half a million Nansen passports were issued during their nearly two-decade existence. And the office responsible for their operation was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for its work in combating this massive displacement crisis.
While the parallel is imperfect — as historical analogs always are — the growing number of Russians disaffected with Putin’s rule today similarly stand to have their lives transformed by such international recognition. In recent days though, Norway, along with Finland, banned the entry of Russian tourists (with few exceptions for essential travel and humanitarian reasons). And while the measure signals a strong stance against Putin’s war, it offers no way of distinguishing between Russians who fall in line behind him and those who seek to disavow him. It only further points to the urgent need for an international juridical mechanism for making precisely this kind of distinction.
As the war staggers on, we must use all the resources at our disposal — military, economic and legal — to help Ukraine prevail. The establishment of an extraterritorial free Russia, so to speak, with international recognition, would mark a crucial step toward Ukraine’s victory, dramatically shifting the balance of power in the struggle between democracy and dictatorship.
We cannot shy away from the truth that victory for Ukraine entails the full defeat of Putin’s regime. The steps we take to ensure Ukraine’s future are also steps that pave the way for a free, fair and democratic Russia aligned with the West. We urge the leaders of the free world to take this proposal seriously: to bring like-minded Russians to their side of the current fight and, as a result, integrate them into the international democratic fabric.
