Irina Borogan

For almost 20 years, the Kremlin has paid close attention to how its actions have been interpreted by Russians abroad. Moscow’s relationship with the diaspora, never easy, is marked by the shadowy legacy of Soviet secret services, the bloody history of exiles and the mass exodus of Soviet citizens in the late 1980s and 1990s. But the Kremlin has scored some spectacular recent successes, including the reunion of Orthodox Churches abroad and in Moscow, and wide support for the annexation of Crimea among the Compatriots’ organizations in the US and Europe.