Film by Vladimir Sevrinovsky
According to Vladimir Putin, 318 thousand people were mobilized for the war with Ukraine in Russia. The so-called “partial mobilization” was announced in September 2022, six months after the invasion of Ukraine. Many conscripts and their relatives believed that the conscription would be for a relatively short period of time, up to six months – some officials spoke about this, although this was not officially announced.
Almost a year later, in August 2023, the “Way Home” movement appeared in Russia, uniting relatives of those mobilized – several activists who met in one of the many online groups of wives and mothers of Russian soldiers, decided to move from talk to action and created a chat for coordination effort. Initially, most of the chat participants were loyal to the authorities and far from politics. Over time, they realized that they were not going to return those who had been mobilized, local authorities were getting off with empty promises, and for the federal press this topic was taboo. Then the activists, in order to be heard, moved on to public actions. They refrain from criticizing government decisions and the war itself, focusing on the sole goal of bringing those mobilized home.
On November 7, 2023, a group of women came with posters to a rally of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation in the center of Moscow, on Manezhnaya Square. On December 7, the movement published a collective manifesto demanding demobilization. People started talking about The Way Home, the community began to grow rapidly – and at the same time came under increasingly harsh attacks. Opponents of the war ridicule those who did not evade the summons and obediently went to the military registration and enlistment office. Proponents of the war declare activists of the movement “Navalnists.” TV propagandist Vladimir Solovyov even stated that “The Way Home” was created by foreign intelligence services for subversive activities. Community rallies are banned under the pretext of Covid, security forces come to see its participants and their husbands, and the telegram channel “Ways Home” was marked Fake – pro-government blogger Ilya Remeslo said that this was done after his complaint. Despite the pressure, the community continues to act.
The story of the “Way Home” activist who wished to remain anonymous is in Vladimir Sevrinovsky’s film “Wives of the Mobilized.”
Monologue of a conscript’s wife
The most terrible thing in our life is partial mobilization
– At first we were friends, he was married, I was married – we knew each other for more than 10 years. I wasn’t married for long, literally a year, then there was a divorce. I decided to go support an old friend, since he was on the verge of divorce, and somehow things slowly started to turn around. We gathered with a group of friends for his divorce, and at the exit from the registry office he was greeted with balloons and a cake in his face. On the same day he proposed to me. We lived in different regions, then he moved to me from the north-west of our country, [туда, где] I live in Central Russia. Already in July 2022, our daughter was born. When the child was two months old, the most terrible thing in our lives was announced – partial mobilization.
The heroine of the film wished to remain anonymous
Friends reported that an administration representative came to his apartment with a summons to verify his military ID data. He’s a citizen like this: if you have to check it, then it’s necessary. Bad, of course. I tried to dissuade him from this, I said [дождаться]that a summons to work will arrive. As soon as he was on the threshold of the military registration and enlistment office, he was given a summons for mobilization. There is such a thing – law-abiding citizens. Then they said very firmly and clearly that this was necessary, it was a civic duty. Yes, this is a civic duty, the law says that if you receive a summons, you need to appear – this is a normal reaction of any citizen. When sending [мужа в армию] they said that it would be for three months, maybe six months, six months – this is generally the maximum that is possible – and then go home. In December 2023 we see that this is a lie. Although the very first lie [– обещание]that there will never be any mobilization.
There the chance of dying is a million times higher than in civilian life.
About war? What could he tell me? That there are arrivals, they count the distance, how close the arrival is, is there an answer or not. They have a habit of falling asleep to this sound; they cannot sleep in silence. He is my driver, he came somewhere to a very scary place, to the trenches, and this is the black earth – there is dirt, if you stand up, you won’t be able to take your boots out. He always has spare socks and spare pants with him so that he can change clothes and not get sick. He looks: a boy in ankle boots on his bare leg. The husband gave him woolen socks, and the boy pressed him to him and said: “Someday I’ll get out of here and then I’ll put them on.” That is, a person is not even ready to put on a thing, because he does not know whether he will be able to go out, and if he does go out, then at least he wants to be dressed in something. Every second there could be your last. Either come back alive, achieve this, or die there – in a trench, blown up by a mine, something else, there the chance of dying is a million times higher than in civilian life. If at least some of my actions lead to his return, this is a victory.
I started struggling with the first letters to the Ministry of Defense: sorry, it’s already February, six months have passed [с мобилизации]you promised six months [срок службы], what the fuck? But no one returns her husband. Since then, I have been bombarding local deputies with letters, who, in principle, don’t care about us. Just think, you were mobilized, you think, your life was stolen, but what’s wrong with that? We wrote to Moskovsky Komsomolets, Komsomolskaya Pravda, Izvestia and so on, but did not receive a single answer. A journalist I know answered me directly: “If I write something or say anything to the editor-in-chief, I will be fired.” That is, we understand that this topic is taboo.
Who do you think we are? Just a bunch of stupid women?
At the beginning of August we began to think: that we are just sitting [в чате], we chat, discuss panties, socks, rumors that the men will return, but this is nonsense. And some of the girls gathered in a chat, the chat was called “The Way Home.” We have 318 thousand mobilized. Do you seriously believe that all 318 thousand [родственниц] – milkmaids and collective farmers? There is not a single lawyer, not a single journalist, not a single editor? Seriously? Who do you think we are? Just a bunch of stupid women who are only capable of, as the state asks us to do, give birth and that’s all? Everyone here has their own pain, some are hurt because they don’t have family nearby, others are hurt because they want a child, but having a child when you are alone is scary. Many children stopped talking after their dad was taken away. Many families are breaking up, some are not ready to wait, others are not ready to live like this any longer.
Action in the Alexander Garden in Moscow
I communicate with many mobilized people and do not discuss the issue of war with them. It’s already hard for them, they are there, someone understands what they are doing there, and someone: I’m bringing in shells, and that’s it. For what, what and how, they try not to think, because it is very difficult and very difficult. The guys have one understanding: we want to go home. Those who don’t want to, have already signed contracts a long time ago.
People realized that if you are not interested in politics, it will come for you
The mobilization is not over, please listen. Suspended, according to the president, only suspended. We don’t know what number we wanted to dial, how many people actually dialed, we don’t know that, we’re only talking about official data. The call can continue at any moment, absolutely at any time. If at a press conference Vladimir Vladimirovich said that mobilization is not needed today, believe me, it is not needed today, but what will happen tomorrow? Are you sure that tomorrow you won’t find yourself in our shoes? Are you sure that you will live just as peacefully and not send food, clothing, shoes and water to the trenches? You will also be looking for where to buy body armor, because the body armor that is issued is very heavy. Are you sure you won’t find yourself in this situation? You are very mistaken. I don’t want anyone to be in my husband’s place. It makes no sense for a civilian to give his life like that. In order to play war and achieve some abstract goals so that NATO does not come to our borders? So there it is, Finland [в НАТО], NATO is already here, should we go to war with the Finns? Isn’t it clear that loyal people have become disloyal, they don’t need this special military operation, an indefinite stay there – Kherson, Kiev, Odessa or Warsaw… The mobilized and their families are an apolitical community, no one has ever been interested in politics, but now these people understand that if you are not interested in politics, it will come for you.
Action in the Alexander Garden in Moscow
This is a horizontal structure that cannot be demolished
The FSB called my husband and asked what I had to do with the “Way Home” channel, who I was in it – an activist, a participant. The “Way Home” channel is not one, two, five, ten people, it is a horizontal structure that cannot be demolished. All ideas, thoughts, everything that happens there is the decision of a large number of people. They asked my husband who I am and what I am. They took his phone and didn’t give it back, they asked: “Shut up your wife.” He replied: “I can convey something to my wife when I am constantly near her.” The guys who found out why he was being called came up and shook his hand: “Thank you that you have such a wife, that a person fights for the rights not only of you, but of everyone.” They are not afraid of some telegram channel, they are afraid that sooner or later even more people will get tired of this and these people will stand up in their cities. For example, I know that if I am touched, my husband and a certain number of people will drop everything and turn around. I doubt that our politicians understand this at the moment; they do not fully understand it.
2024-01-06 17:50:00
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