Peer-reviewed articles WAR’S EFFECT Contentious climate activism in Russia before and after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine

Based on a holistic case study of a climate movement in Russia that emerged several years before and dissolved shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, this article explores the war’s impact on civil society activism. Drawing on in-depth interviews with key participants conducted both before and after the war, the study identifies three typical activist career paths which shape engagement with and disengagement from the movement. The analysis of these career paths shows that the war did not introduce entirely new conditions but rather intensified problems the movement had already been struggling with. Moreover, it further raised the risks of protest participation and shifted activists’ attention from climate change to more urgent wartime concerns. The article contributes to understanding the Russo- Ukrainian war’s effect on Russian civil society. It also contributes to the literature on disengagement and demobilization in social movements by promoting a career approach and addressing the broader question of how a large-scale political event can lead to the demobilization of a social movement.

Published in the printed edition of Baltic Worlds BW 2026:2, pp 114-127
Published on balticworlds.com on May 29, 2026

abstract

Based on a holistic case study of a climate movement in Russia that emerged several years before and dissolved shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, this article explores the war’s impact on civil society activism. Drawing on in-depth interviews with key participants conducted both before and after the war, the study identifies three typical activist career paths which shape engagement with and disengagement from the movement.
The analysis of these career paths shows that the war did not introduce entirely new conditions but rather intensified problems the movement had already been struggling with. Moreover, it further raised the risks of protest participation and shifted  activists’ attention from climate change to more urgent wartime concerns. The article contributes to understanding the Russo- Ukrainian war’s effect on Russian civil society. It also contributes to the literature on disengagement and demobilization in social movements by promoting a career approach and addressing the broader question of how a large-scale political event can lead to the demobilization of a social movement.

KEYWORDS: Russo-Ukrainian war, Russia, civil society, climate activism, activist career, biographical analysis.

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Svetlana Erpyleva