Andrei Soldatov, Visiting Fellow at LSE, and journalist Irina Borogan will each present in a broad discussion of their research on how the Russian state seeks to control its citizens, historically and in the conditions of the current confrontation with Western states. They will outline findings of their recent book, The Compatriots, to show how the Russian and Soviet state has created emigres and the roles adopted by that émigré community in Western countries. This will lead to a discussion of the exodus of Russians out of the Russia during the more recent period of Putin’s rule and especially the implications of the ‘new’ expatriates created recently by Russia’s war against Ukraine. They will then draw on their longstanding expertise on the Russian state and its security services to consider the role of the siloviki (the power ministries) in decision-making over the war – does Putin represent them and what tensions may the war create for the structure of power in the Russian state?