Wives of Russian soldiers protest against 'endless war' in Ukraine | DW News

Summary

A group of Russian women are staging weekly protests to demand the return of their husbands and sons fighting in Ukraine. They initially supported the war but now want their relatives home, with some explicitly calling to end the conflict. The women refuse to give up, protesting every Saturday in cities across Russia. While the Kremlin currently lets them demonstrate without interference to provide an outlet for anger, a harsher crackdown could come if the movement grows substantially. Still, mass anti-war protests are unlikely due to Russia's size, lack of infrastructure, intimidation of dissent, and economic stability shielding citizens from the war's impacts.

Takeaways

• 😡 A group of Russian women are protesting to demand the return of their husbands and sons from the war in Ukraine.
• 👩‍👦‍👦 The women are united in wanting their relatives to come home from fighting in Ukraine.
• 🤔 The protesters have differing views on the war itself, with some supporting it and others more skeptical.
• 🚫 The women are sharpening their tone and now demanding an end to the war, not just the return of their men.
• 😟 The protests show growing anger and dissatisfaction in parts of Russian society over the war.
• 📢 The women want their protest to pressure Putin ahead of the March presidential election.
• 😕 The Kremlin is so far letting the women protest without crackdowns, seeing it as not a real threat.
• 🤫 Protesting is risky in Russia, so the movement is still small with only hundreds participating.
• ⏱ The women vow to keep protesting every Saturday until their demands are met.
• 😯 If mobilization resumes, more widespread anti-war protests could occur in Russia.

Q & A

What are the Russian women protesting for?

The Russian women are protesting to demand the return of their husbands and sons who were mobilized to fight in Ukraine. They want them to come home.

What are the women's views on the war?

The women have differing views - some claim to support the war, others are more skeptical. But they are united in wanting their relatives to return from Ukraine.

Where are the women protesting?

The women are protesting in public spaces like the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and President Putin's campaign office near the Kremlin in Moscow.

How long have the protests been going on?

The women's initiative demanding their relatives' return has been around for months, but recently they have sharpened their rhetoric to explicitly demand an end to the war.

Why don't the authorities crack down on the protests?

The Kremlin likely doesn't see the small protests as a real threat yet. Also, violently crushing the protests could be counterproductive.

Could the protests grow into an anti-war movement?

So far the protests seem unlikely to become a mass anti-war movement, as Russia lacks the infrastructure and leadership required. But some observers warn the protests could still grow.

Why don't most Russians actively oppose the war?

After 20+ years of Putin, few Russians have an interest in politics. Also the war has little impact on most people's everyday lives currently.

What could turn public opinion against the war?

Economic troubles or a new mobilization wave might worry people. But currently Russia is doing fairly well economically despite sanctions.

What do the women want from Putin?

The protesting women want Putin to see and hear their protests. They are demanding he announce demobilization to end the war and bring their relatives home.

How are the women planning to continue protesting?

The women plan to continue protesting every Saturday in public spaces in Moscow, St. Petersburg and elsewhere to pressure Putin ahead of March's election.

Outlines

00:00

🤔 Russian women protest to demand return of their relatives from Ukraine war

Paragraph 1 discusses a group of Russian women who are staging protests regularly to demand the return of their husbands and sons from the war in Ukraine. The women have differing views on the war but want their relatives home after long service. They want to lay flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in protest and are determined to pressure Putin to let their men come home.

05:01

😕 Kremlin allowing protests so far but could crack down if they grow

Paragraph 2 notes the Kremlin is currently letting the women protest likely because they don't see it as a big threat yet and want an outlet for anger. But if the protests grow much larger, the Kremlin could quickly change course and crack down. Intimidation is already widespread.

10:01

😟 Criticism that the women aren't explicitly anti-war, just pro-family

Paragraph 3 discusses how the protesters have faced criticism from both pro-war and anti-war camps. Some say the women weren't brave enough to be explicitly anti-war and just want their own families back. But the women say they are gaining members and believe they will eventually be seen by Putin.

Keywords

💡protest

The women are staging protests to demand the return of their husbands and sons from Ukraine. This means they are gathering publicly to express strong disagreement with the government's policies. The protests aim to pressure the government to change course and bring their relatives home from the war.

💡mobilization

Putin announced a mobilization to draft hundreds of thousands of men to fight in Ukraine. The women's husbands were mobilized, meaning they were forced to join the military and sent to the war against their will.

💡Kremlin

The women took their protest to the Kremlin, which is the government complex in Moscow where Putin has his offices and residence. Protesting there is symbolic of directing their message personally to Putin.

💡election

There is a presidential election coming up in Russia in less than two months. The women believe now is the right moment to increase pressure on Putin through protests to achieve their goals before the election.

💡opposition

The report compares the women's small movement to much larger anti-government protests in the past led by opposition leaders like Navalny. But the women lack that kind of infrastructure or leadership.

💡sanctions

The West has imposed many economic sanctions on Russia, but the reporter says these have been useless so far for pressuring Putin or Russian public opinion to oppose the war.

💡criticism

The women face criticism about their protests from both war supporters and anti-war groups. This shows they are controversial even among people who disagree with Putin's policies.

💡decree

The women talk about Putin's official decrees to mobilize soldiers, which they say contradict his words promising the war would be short. Even though mass mobilization has paused, the original decree sending their husbands to war is still in effect.

💡demobilization

Key to the women's protests is their demand for demobilization - an official order from Putin ending their husbands' mandatory service and allowing soldiers to come home.

💡manifesto

The women published a manifesto stating their goals, including demobilization and normalcy to be brought back to the country. But they stop short of directly demanding an end to the war likely to avoid backlash.

Highlights

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Transcripts

a group of women in Russia are staging

regular protests to demand the return of

their husbands and Sons from Ukraine

they have differing views on the war

with some claiming to support it and

others more skeptical but all are united

in the belief that their relatives have

done their fair share of the fighting

and should be allowed to now come

home determined to get their man back

marand d and a dozen other Russians

whose husbands were m ized want to lay

flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown

Soldier this isn't a ritual but a

protest they wanted their husbands who

have been fighting in Ukraine for more

than a year to finally come

home there is a war going on people are

dying there average people men who were

called up during the partial

mobilization we can't pretend that

they're not dying

there she calls her women's initiative

the way home Mar Andre recently even

took it to the campaign office of

President Vladimir Putin near the

Kremlin emotions ran high

there should my husband come back

crippled your husband is defending our

homeland and what will I get back a man

without legs and arms a sick man

how are you talking about your husband

you don't even know what's going

on the women want to get through to

Putin with their protests the president

who in early January celebrated Orthodox

Christmas with a select group of

completely different women everything

there was

harmonious as you know our brave heroic

men our boys the Warriors of Russia are

fighting for the interests of our

country even now during the

holidays the initiative has been around

for months but in recent days the women

have sharpened their tone at first they

were not explicitly against the war only

in favor of their husbands coming back

now they are demanding an end to the

war it's

symptomatic we see similar anger in

other are of

society young people are becoming

increasingly

dissatisfied pensioners are increasingly

worried about Rising food

prices the war is causing more and more

consternation and

tension but that doesn't mean that

people are ready to take to the streets

on

mass it means they see the situation

that Russia is currently in

differently couldn't this turn into a

bigger movement

the problem is is that Russia is a very

large country to organize an all Russian

movement you need proper

infrastructure these women have neither

infrastructure nor a

leader they refuse to give up the women

now take to the streets every Saturday

not only here in Moscow but also in St

Petersburg we have to come back again

and write lots of protest letters to ERT

massive pressure now is exactly the

right moment to

act that moment is the presidential

election in less than two months time

the Kremlin hasn't yet intervened in the

protests but that could change

quickly more I'm joined Now by DW's Yuri

retto filed that report Yuri was our

Moscow bureau chief before 4dw was

banned from reporting from Russia now

joins us from Ria Yuri what exactly do

those women we saw in your report want

to achieve with their

protest well Terry first and foremost

these women want what they call Justice

they are pretty unhappy that their

husbands are at the front for so long

against their will they say uh this

isn't about contract soldiers but about

mobilized men uh the wives of these men

want their husbands to come home

immediately and this is new that are

demanding an end to the war in other

words uh we are talking here about a

group of citizens in Russia who

represent a part of Russian society that

it against the war and therefore also

against President Putin's policies uh

it's still difficult to estimate Terry

how many people in Russia share this

view because all surveys are difficult

in times of War however there is

obviously a certain part of the Russian

population that wants to the the end to

the

war it's difficult of course risky to

protest in Russia these days Yuri but

these women are protesting openly even

in moscow's Red Square are they not

afraid of being

arrested well I think the Kremlin is

letting the women protest for two

reasons um firstly because these women

don't seem to be a real threat to the

Kremlin so far um and secondly because

the Kremlin understands that a total ban

on expression once opinion uh is

ultimately counterproductive there are

not yet thousands of women but at most

hundreds who dare to protest in Moscow

St Petersburg in other words it's not a

yet mass movement uh they might come

insistently to Red Square in Moscow and

to Mars of Apollo in St Petersburg every

Saturday but they are not storming the

Kremlin and as soon as there are much

more women the Kremlin can quickly

change the mind um also the uh police

don't want to produce images to of

Arrested women in front of the Kremlin

now in the run up to the presidential

election and uh yeah that takes us to

the second reason the kremin understands

that there has to be an outlet for

people's anger and from the kremlin's

point of view it's better to control a

dozen unhappy women than tens of

thousand of supporters for example of

the opposition politician naali who took

to the streets a few years ago here you

say the kemin doesn't see these protests

by those women as a threat but could

this not grow into a larger anti-war

movement that's potentially dangerous

for Putin

well yeah it's remarkable that the women

are demanding an end to the war and not

just a rotation at the front so that

their husbands can come home

nevertheless uh there won't be a mass

protest I think we've just heard it from

the political scientist in my report

Russia is a big country and that every

protest needs an infrastructure and a

leader but there is also Terry another

much more let's say ordinary or banal

reason after more than 20 years of Putin

hardly anyone in Russia has any interest

in politics uh people leave according to

the motto I do leave my life and the

state should leave me alone in addition

there is much intimidation across the

country plus as long as Russians don't

feel this war very clearly in their

everyday lives uh they won't take to the

streets and protest against it and the

Russian the Russians hardly feel the war

because all the Western sanctions are as

good as useless Russia is still doing

pretty well economically the only thing

that could really worry people would be

a new wave of mobilization but that

won't happen apparently at least not

before the election in March Yuri thank

you very much as always that was our

correspondent in rioo Yuri

retto let's get more on this from DW

reporter Alona mova welcome uh Alona so

these women why are they speaking out

now given that this war has been going

on two years yes Phil so because of

disappointment this women say that

they're disappointed in the Russian

presid president and that's the main

sentiment that I got while reading all

the messages in this telegram group this

women say that there is this dichotomy

between what the President says and

what's actually written in the decrees

that he signs so they also say that they

had been lied to several times so the

first time when they were told that

there would be no mobilization the

second time when they were told well

there is mobilization but your man will

be gone for three maximum 6 months and

right now this decree is still in place

and it's says explicitly that this man

can only come back the mobilized one

when Dem mobilization is announced and I

also spoke with some women and people

there in Russia and I asked them about

what they think about mobilization and

some of them told me but there is no

mobilization anymore and I asked them

why they think so and they said well

it's been quiet and that's a very tricky

situation because just because it's

quiet doesn't mean that decree is not

there the decree is there and this women

say that please join us support us right

now because tomorrow today it's us but

tomorrow can be any of you fighting for

you man and they have faced criticism

haven't they yes they have faced

criticism from both sides of the aisle I

would say so obviously the first side is

proar activists and obviously they blame

the women traitors they brand them

estrus but also it's very interesting

from this anti-war groups as well and

there are two main points of criticism

there so the first one is that this

women so to say let their men go and

fight and this women say well we were

apolitical before and these are the

consequences of that we know that we

regret that and we didn't really know

what was going to happen so we were

basically lied to but the second point

and it's very tricky here as well some

say that this women are not brave enough

so I read their Manifesto and they call

for demobilization they call for normaly

to be brought back to the country but

they don't specifically say that they

want the war to end they allude to that

but they don't say specifically so some

praise their bravery and at the same

time there are people who say well why

can't they just say we unti War we un to

Putin well for obvious reasons because

the political climate in Russia is very

very dangerous right now for that so how

dangerous are they then how scared are

authorities that this could grow into

something this movement well I would say

there are some signs of that to be

honest so at least according to this

women some of them have been approached

by FSB agents and they say that these

FSB agents they try to exert some

pressure on them but they were surprised

as well that this pressure wasn't as

strong as they expected and they have

their own theory for that they say that

authorities might be scared to put too

much pressure on this women because

their men right now are fighting there

so they are already fatigued and tired

and they of course they would be

outraged when they find out that this

women are being basically uh put on

pressure by the government there back in

Russia so this women say that there are

these authorities are scared of the

reaction of their men on the

Battleground so the main goal of this

women right now that's what they they

say they want to be seen by the Russian

president and they want demobilization

to be to actually become a decree to be

real so they say that the longer the war

is ongoing the bigger the group is going

to grow and right now it's more than

40,000 people there in this telegram

chat so that the president has to see

them at some point okay thank you for

that Alona DW's Alona Mur over thank you

thank

you