Russian sociologist Trunov charts migrant integration after moving to Lithuania

Ivan Trunov, a sociologist from the Moscow region, says Lithuanian has become the main language of his daily and professional life after moving to Lithuania with his family 11 years ago, LRT reports.

Trunov’s family decided to leave Russia after the protests in Bolotnaya Square and the 2012 presidential election, before the annexation of Crimea and the full-scale war in Ukraine. They moved to Lithuania in 2014, seeking legal status and the opportunity to build a new life.

“My parents always opposed the regime. They followed the protests and the events surrounding the 2012 presidential election very closely. The election results and Vladimir Putin’s approval rating became a moment of realisation for them. They understood that Russia was moving in the wrong direction and that there was no future there,” Trunov said.

The family chose integration through the education system. Trunov was still at school when they moved, with only two years remaining before graduation and his final exams. The family decided that he should attend a Russian-language school where he could also study Lithuanian.

He spent two years at a school in Klaipeda, attending regular Lithuanian language and literature classes and receiving help from a private tutor once or twice a week.

“During those two years, I had one goal: to learn Lithuanian,” Trunov said.

At the time, Lithuanian schools had little experience working with teenagers who had arrived from abroad.

“I was something of a curiosity. No one knew how to work with students from abroad. I never heard that my secondary school had previously faced a similar situation,” he said.

Many decisions were therefore made individually between Trunov and the school administration. One of the main issues was preparing him for his Lithuanian language graduation exam.

After consulting teachers, they decided that he could prepare for the school-level Lithuanian language exam within two years, but not the state exam. This was enough to apply to a higher education institution, although his studies would have been fee-paying.

Trunov now not only has personal experience of integrating into a foreign country but also studies the process professionally. He is involved in Lithuania’s largest study of foreign nationals, examining how migrants adapt to life in the country, what difficulties they face and what influences their decision to stay long term.

The study identifies limited political participation, language barriers in healthcare and insufficient programme funding among the main problems facing migrants.