Russian wives recruited to fight in Ukraine on Saturday placed red flowers on the monument to the Unknown Soldier in front of the Kremlin headquarters, as an expression of their protest, demanding the return of their husbands from the front.
Anger has been building for months among relatives of reservists who were conscripted on Vladimir Putin’s orders in September 2022, a sensitive topic for the authorities who have until now been careful not to suppress this emerging protest movement.
Despite the cold, the number of women was 15, and Maria (47 years old) told Agence France-Presse, “We want to draw the attention of the authorities and public opinion to our appeal. We tried to resort to several means. We sent a message to representatives, officials, and departments, but we did not receive any response.”
Maria’s husband was summoned in November 2022, more than a year ago, and she says, “This is not fair. They are civilians, not soldiers. Our men cannot stay there for this long.”
Report: Moscow pays cash to soldiers’ wives in exchange for not protesting
The British Ministry of Defense said that the Kremlin pays the wives of Russian soldiers money in exchange for not protesting the presence of their husbands on the front lines in combat for long periods, following small demonstrations in Moscow.
For her part, Maria Semyonova, a legal assistant, called on the authorities to “negotiate to bring peace” to Ukraine after two years of war.
The police did not intervene to stop the women’s movement, despite the usual suppression of any protest movement in Russia, and this indicates that it is a sensitive issue for the Kremlin.
Polina, a mother of a first-year-old baby, confirms that this movement is “the only peaceful action that has not been prohibited by law so far.”
She explained, “I have the impression that we are disturbing them. But no one will remain silent. We will go out into the street every day, every Saturday we will lay flowers” to draw attention to our situation. “At some point it will be impossible to ignore us,” she continued.
The official Russian media ignored the movement of the conscripts’ wives, while the Kremlin is keen to show a united front around Putin before his decisive re-election in the presidential elections in March 2024.
According to the Russian President, 244,000 conscripts are currently fighting in Ukraine out of a total force of 617,000 men.
#protest #movement #front #Kremlin #wives #Russians #recruited #fight #Ukraine
2024-01-06 18:18:39
