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We don’t serve Russia.” reading posters outside a restaurant in Portugal.

The same policy was followed by an innkeeper in Germany, a hotel in Poland, and a university in Estonia. A Russian restaurant in France has received death threats. The house of a Russian citizen in the Czech Republic was vandalized with graffiti reading “This is the Russian KGB.”

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sparked an unprecedented wave of sanctions against the Putin regime, banks, businesses and cultural exports. There is growing evidence that Russian expatriates in Europe are also being targeted.

In Britain, some MPs have called for the deportation of Russians en masse. Russian companies are being bombarded with hate emails, and even the owner of a Ukrainian spa in London with the word “Russia” in the name. While the UK is exempt from new Facebook and Instagram rules that allow violent language against Russians in some European countries, expats here are describing a “wave of hate” on the platform.

Abuse on social media has been normalized. But parents are more worried about bullying Russian children at school. Websites for Russians in the UK include guidelines for dealing with such situations. In one case, a seven-year-old girl was reportedly asked by a teacher about her feelings for Putin. UK education agency says I they provide “additional pastoral support.”

“Everyone is under suspicion,” said Kristina Moskalenko, deputy editor of the London-based lifestyle magazine. Russian roulette.

From a haven for Russian immigrants who had built a thriving community in the city, the environment turned hostile. A business partner faced destruction after a campaign of harassment directed at his client, who later abandoned him, said Ms. Moskalenko. Business associates insist that their magazine cover models be background checked.

“Companies that work for the Russian community here are now collapsing due to lost connections,” said Ms. Moskalenko, who named a language school and a small shop among the victims.

Many companies are changing their names to hide their Russian roots, he said, a trend that is spreading across Europe. The luxury restaurant “Maison Russe” in Paris has undergone a hasty rebranding to “Maison R”. Russians are also encouraged to hide their heritage and emphasize other aspects of their identity.

Cultural exclusion has been painful for communities that are well represented in the arts and have used them to emphasize regime differences. Russian films have been pulled from festivals, classical musicians have been pulled from shows, and shows have been cancelled.

The sentiment is easy to understand, says Elena Sudakova, director of the cultural center of London’s Pushkin House, which denounced the Russian invasion. But he urged those angered by the war “not to burn this last bridge.”

Pushkin House organized a fundraiser with Ukrainian and Russian culinary writers, and another with Russian classical musicians, with all proceeds going to Ukraine via Unicef. Sudakova hopes that there will be no general boycott of Russian culture “because such an event would not be possible.”

Such efforts are not unique. London art collector Igor Tsukanov’s “True Russia” campaign has raised more than £300,000 to help Ukraine. Other initiatives of the expatriate community are remittances and medicine. The new Telegram channel will show Russia how war is felt in Europe, trying to break through the veil of state propaganda.

Europeans must understand that, in most cases, the Russians living here have rejected the regime, said Moskalenko, who was effectively forced into exile by fostering oppression in their homeland. “The vast majority of Russians live outside Russia, there’s a reason for that,” he said.

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