The whole #Ragozin affair reminded me of something. While working as Senior Advisor on Foreign Affairs and Defence in the Dutch Parliament, I was approached by a very prominent Russian living in exile. I won't name him. We arranged a one-on-one call. He had three proposals: 1) Grant permanent EU residency to Russians who fled after February 2022. 2) Bring Russian IT specialists to Europe and give them jobs. 3) Remove Mikhail Fridman from the EU sanctions list. I asked what Russians themselves should do to help end the war. What about Ukraine? What about Russia's responsibility? He didn't give any meaningful response. Out of respect for my guest, I sat through the call. Having studied Russian intelligence services, I left with one thought: an SVR officer seeking to advance Russian interests in Europe could have made exactly the same requests. I am not saying that he is an intelligence operative. But the alignment of interests was remarkable. And now, watching prominent Russians in exile rush to Ragozin's defence, I see the same problem. These guys confuse journalism with recycling Kremlin talking points. They confuse freedom of speech with immunity from criticism. And they seem more concerned with what Europe owes Russians than with what Russians owe Ukraine. Living in exile doesn't automatically make you an opponent of Russian imperialism. Sometimes it just means you've moved the lobbying operation to Brussels, or in my case, to The Hague.