Felix Hosse | You Can Defund the Russian War Machine

In the 19th episode of The European Republic, our host Nikodem Skrobisz speaks with Felix Hosse, entrepreneur, long-time liberty activist and CEO of Push To Leave. Push To Leave is an app that lets you as a consumer scan a barcode and instantly see whether the company behind the product is still doing business in or with Russia. Felix left Germany for Kyiv, where he now lives and works, and his organisation was placed on Russia’s list of “undesirable organisations” in December 2025.In the episode we discuss how his approach works, how aggregated boycott data moves the burden of proof, so that companies must justify staying in Russia rather than justify leaving. Felix argues that the wave of corporate exits from Russia is not over, that firms still betting on a post-war return are underestimating the risk of expropriation.The second half turns to culture and self-understanding. Nikodem and Felix discuss why German and Polish readings of Russia diverge so sharply, why hierarchy and humiliation explain more about Russian strategy than Western cost-benefit logic does, and how Soviet legacies still shape post-communist societies. Felix also tells the story of his own path from Students for Liberty to founding a think tank, to aid convoys in 2022, to building software in Kyiv — including an approach from RT Germany, and a visit to the Irpin and Bucha cemetery that he describes as the experience that changed everything.Push To Leave: https://www.pushtoleave.org/Felix Hosse: https://www.linkedin.com/in/felix-hosse/ Get full access to Nikodem at nikodemskrobisz.substack.com/subscribe