The Russian invasion of Ukraine has affected millions of people in different ways. The everyday lives of Russians has changed significantly. Our purpose in this study is to explore the experiences of Russian immigrants in Sweden. The areas we are specifically interested in are the understanding individuals have of the conflict and the experiences these individuals describe when it comes to how the conflict has affected their sense of identity as well as their personal relationships with friends and family. This qualitiative study was conducted through interviews of these Russian immigrants. The perspective from the Russian diaspora is a rather unexplored one compared to their Ukrainian counterpart. This study covers many different subjects and there is a lack of previous research on this specific topic, likely because of the recency of these events. Considering this, the section on previous research is based on the themes the study discusses. These themes are public opinion of international military interventions, the Russian diaspora, empathy in polarized politics, shame, and group responsibility, and finally the group borders in the Ukrainian solidarity movement. The theoretical framework this study is based on is emotional sociology. A theory has been built out of the combined viewpoints of Goffman’s theory on categorization and stigma, Collins’s theory of group solidarity, interaction ritual, and conflict talk, Hochschild’s theory of deep stories and empathy walls as well as Scheff’s theory on shame and conformity. The final results of the study show that the understanding of the conflict varies wildly between individuals and said understanding tends to affect in which manner the conflict has changed the sense of identity as well as personal relationships. The individuals who share an understanding that agrees with the idea that Russia is at fault tend to feel a larger sense of shame over their identity and it has had a more negative effect on their personal relationships especially with family in Russia. Individuals who are more inclined to either have a more ambivalent- or pro-Putin understanding didn’t express these experiences but instead had different worries, such as receiving negative sanctions for their opinions. Respondents of all understandings expressed a worry about suffering sanctions for their ethnicity, but none of them described personal experiences with this in Sweden. / Den ryska invasionen av Ukraina har påverkat miljontals människor på olika sätt. Ryssars vardagliga liv har förändrats ordentligt av detta. Vårt syfte i denna studie är att undersöka ryska invandrare i Sverige och deras olika upplevelser. De områden vi är specifikt intresserade av är förståelsen individer har av konflikten och de upplevelser de beskriver angående hur konflikten har påverkat deras identitet och relationer till vänner och familj. Denna kvalitativa studie genomfördes genom intervjuer av dessa ryssar. Den ryska diasporans perspektiv är ett relativt outforskat område i jämförelse med den ukrainska motsvarigheten. Denna studie täcker många olika ämnen och det finns en brist på tidigare forskning på specifikt detta ämne, troligtvis på grund av hur aktuell situationen fortfarande är. Med tanke på detta är sektionen med tidigare forskning baserad på de teman som studien diskuterar. Dessa teman är den allmänna opinionen angående internationella militära interventioner, den ryska diasporan, empati i polariserad politik, skam och gruppansvar och slutligen gruppgränser inom den ukrainska solidaritetsrörelsen. Den teoretiska referensramen vi utgått från är baserad på emotionssociologi. En teori har blivit byggd av de gemensamma synpunkterna av Goffmans teori om kategorisering och stigma, Collins teori om gruppsolidaritet, interatktionsritualer och konfliktsamtal, Hochschilds teori om deep story och empatimurar samt Scheffs teori om skam och konformitet. Resultaten av studien visar att förståelsen av konflikten varierar stort mellan individer och detta tenderar att påverka hur konflikten har förändrat deras identitet och relationer. Individer som delar en förståelse som stämmer överens med idén att konflikten är Rysslands fel tenderar att känna mer skam över deras identitet och det har haft en större negativ påverkan på deras relationer, framförallt med familj i Ryssland. Individer som är mer benägna att antingen ha en mer ambivalent- eller pro-Putinförståelse utryckte inte dessa upplevelser utan andra saker oroade dem, som att lida negativa sociala sanktioner för deras åsikter. Respondenter från alla olika former av förståelse utryckte en oro över att få lida sanktioner på grund av deras etnicitet, men ingen beskrev några personliga erfarenheter av detta i Sverige.

The control of the eritrean refugees and the diaspora-tax in SwedenThe purpose of this thesis was to study how the Eritrean government successfully mobilizedand extracted the 2% tax from the diaspora that left the country in protest of its governance.The chosen group of the diaspora, has been the eritreans who left Eritrea after the politicalcrisis in 2001 and currently live in Sweden. Twelve semi-structured interviews wereconducted and the material was analyzed with the theoretical framework of transnationalism.The empirical findings were analyzed with a thematic analysis where three themes wereidentified. The study showed that the Eritrean government controls the diaspora by usingdifferent tools and threats to silence them and to contribute with taxes. The members of thediaspora who are not able to meet the requirements of the government including paying thediaspora tax, are perceived as traitors. Furthermore, they are isolated and live under constantpressure in an insecure environment, while those who contribute with taxes are seen asheroes. Additionally, the government has implemented trust issues among diaspora inSweden, where some members work by reporting to the embassy in order to earn respect andbetter services.