On the eve of the Great Patriotic War, Russian emigration to the Manchurian Empire (Manchukuo) found itself in the epicenter of political intrigues and interests of the special services of the Soviet Union and Japan, and the emigrants themselves became hostages of big politics. On the eve of the Great Patriotic War, Russian emigration to the Manchurian Empire (Manchukuo) found itself in the epicenter of political intrigues and interests of the special services of the Soviet Union and Japan, and the emigrants themselves became hostages of big politics.The authors consider the life of Russian emigration in Manchuria before the Japanese occupation and after, the influence of the Soviet-Japanese military conflicts of 1938-1939 and the Second World War on the fate of emigration.Particular attention is paid to the emigration authorities, the main political movements — the "defencists" and "defeatists", the struggle for power within the diaspora and the use of emigrants in Soviet intelligence, as well as the fate of emigrants after the defeat of Japan in 1945.