When Ordinary Citizens Become Collateral Damage in Reputational Damage for a Nation

As the war in Ukraine enters its second month, the damage being suffered by Russia is expanding from the battlefield and economic numbers to the daily lives of individual citizens. Media reports in Japan, at least, are speaking about Russian residents of the country being hurled abuses and asked to leave, while Russian-owned restaurants seeing downturns in clientele unless they put up high-profile campaigns in support of Ukrainians. The issue is grave enough that the Japanese foreign minister had to release a public statement calling on Japanese citizens to not abuse Russians in the country just because they are Russians.

It is a dismaying situation for Russian citizens, not just in Japan, but in every foreign country in which they reside. For most of these Russian expatriates, the war in Ukraine has little direct implications for their daily lives, given their non-residential status in the home country, and most had little to do with the decision made by the government to start and continue the war. But they have lost access to their money, their jobs, their friends, and even access to sporting activities. As their host countries become more hostile to their presence, it has become increasingly difficult for them to just live their daily lives.

Sanctions against normal Russian citizens are likely to stoke divisive sentiments. As Russian expatriates find themselves increasingly isolated in foreign countries, many are forced to leave, dealing damages to their local employers and communities. Others may stay despite the increasing resentment, leading to greater paranoia among non-Russians around them about the nature of their continued stay in an unwelcoming environment. Beliefs of individuals engaged in espionage and other activities hostile to the host country can quickly go from unfounded rumors to direct attacks that trigger even greater hostilities.

The mistreatment of Russian citizens living in other countries, even in a few isolated incidents, reminds minorities that their welcome from locals still remains dependent on the home country's government over which they exert no control. If Russians can go from valued members of the foreign community to having job offers rescinded, banned from sporting events, and treated as persona non grata just because of the passport they have and the action of a faraway government, nationals of other countries living outside their homelands should also think of contingency plans in case war brings out.

Such contingency plans are difficult to draw up, especially for those that have lived in foreign countries for the majority of their lives. Japanese news reports have interviewed Russian citizens who have been living in the country for a better part of two decades. Yet, the news report ignored these individuals' accomplishments in Japan for 20 years, instead singularly defining their identities as "Russian." Considering that many of these individuals have children and their entire personal networks in Japan and Japan only, such a definition is unfair, to say the least.

And Russians are certainly not the only ones that may see their social positions in host societies immediately change for the worse. Chinese communities across the world, including here in Japan, number in the millions and play a pivotal role as employees, students, investors, and consumers in the societies they reside. The widespread talk of China invading Taiwan after Russia invades Ukraine will surely draw renewed hostility against the Chinese expatriate community that already faces plenty of hostility for the actions of the government in Beijing.

That is not to say that only citizens from potentially hostile states need to watch out for local hostilities. Countries that can be considered friends today can become enemies in a matter of some individuals' lifetime as changing international relations bring some national interests and push others apart. One should not forget that China and Russia were hostile neighbors until the 1990s while Arabs did not register as terrorists in the mind of most non-Muslims around the world until high-profile attacks on civilians in the US and western Europe in recent years. Friendliness at the grassroots level, in response, can be ephemeral.

The solution may be for individuals to build relationships with one country or community. Diversity in social and cultural relationships, just like they are in professional and financial counterparts, can be extremely valuable to external shocks. As values of some relationships plunge due to events outside one's control, one must have other pieces in the portfolio that one can rely on to continue surviving and thriving. While this is difficult for people who generally spend their entire lives and careers in the confines of one set of national borders, it is better late than never to think about creating such diverse relations.