Between Belonging and Feeling of Strangeness: A Phenomenology of Russian Migrant Experiences in Lithuania

Abstract The article examines the integration experiences of Russian political migrants in Lithuania, analyzing politics as everyday experience. Migration is understood here not only as an institutional or legal category, but also as an existential process that transforms the horizons of time, language, social relations and belonging. Based on the data of eleven qualitative interviews, four main levels of experience are revealed: the creation of “we-links”, time discrepancies, asymmetries of knowledge and experiences of strangeness. The analysis shows that waiting time in institutions becomes a form of political power that disciplines migrants’ biographies; language barriers reveal that linguistic experience is not only an expression of communication, but also of limitation; the experience of strangeness testifies to limited opportunities for civic participation; and fragmented integration practices indicate gaps in state responsibility, which are filled by non-governmental initiatives and diasporic networks. The results suggest that the fragility of belonging is a structural condition for integration, and the perspective of loyalty in Lithuania is manifested in everyday experiences – from language choices to the fragmentation of social ties. The article contributes to the discussions in the phenomenology of politics by showing that political reality is inscribed for migrants not only through legal decisions, but also through the existential structures of everyday life that determine their relationship with the state and society.