Russian invasion of Ukraine/Russians against the war

вам ещё нужна эта война? — Do you still need this war?

“ Today, Russian President Vladimir Putin started a war with Ukraine. Pain, anger and shame are three words that reflect our attitude to what is happening. This invasion will bring grief to the families of thousands of people in Ukraine and Russia. This is a large-scale war in which other states will also be involved. Since the Cuban Missile Crisis, the world has never been so close to a global catastrophe.

We, as independent Russian journalists, declare that we are against the massacre initiated by the Russian leadership.

We promise that we will be honest about what is happening while we have this opportunity. We wish resilience and strength to the people of Ukraine who are resisting aggression, and to all in Russia who are now trying to resist this militaristic madness.

We also appeal to those who are trying to rationalise the motivations for the war, justifying its start by the need to protect themselves from NATO and “Ukrainian Nazism”. War is no longer just an argument on television and in kitchens. It has been made flesh. There are tanks in Kharkiv. And in a real war, people always die. We hope that death will not come to your house. But, of this, there can be no certainty.

No to war.

— No to War “Novaya leads a coalition of 25 independent media outlets, “Syndicate 100”. Novaya unequivocally condemns President Putin’s unprovoked and horrific war against Ukraine. We penned a joint statement calling for an end to this barbaric war”

russians protesting against the russian invasion of Ukraine

• Libertarian Party of Russia/Truth and freedom are on the side of peace

• Protests in Russia resume as government seeks to quash antiwar voices

• We, Russians, demand complete withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine’s internationally recognized territory! Let us stand together and show the world that Russians publicly condemn the Kremlin’s actions. Join the anti-war protest in your city on February 24th, 2023. #notowar

• Free Russia Foundation is an international organization supporting civil society and democratic development in Russia. #NoToWar.

• Wiping off the blood: To oppose Ukraine war, Russians adopt new national flag

• 92-year-old Russian woman says that the country is brainwashed into hating the world and that this is why the Bucha Massacre happened. [1]

protests abroad

• ‘Russia’s Rambo,’ once a Putin favorite, says he’d now fight for Ukraine and feels ‘nothing but hatred’ for his home country
  • Russian actor may face criminal charges following his interview with Novaya Gazeta Europe

• Mikhail Khodorkovsky, “Stop saying that the war in Ukraine is being waged by Russia and the Russian people. It’s a war of Putin and his regime. The narrative that Russia as a whole is at war benefits Putin and is not true.” (thread) (pdf)

• Why Aren’t Russians Abroad Doing More to Protest the War?

Serbia

• December 24, 2022: В Белграде сегодня тоже митинг антивоенный, уже сбился какой по счету

Georgia

• October 23, 2022: Protest by Russians in #Tbilisi, chanting “no to war”, happening today on Rustaveli in front of First School, went on for two minutes or more. Speeches, etc., too, many placards in support of #Ukraine. #Georgia [2]

• December 24, 2022: Russians protesting against the war and Putin’s regime [3]

Armenia

• November 22, 2022: Russians in Yerevan, #Armenia are protesting against #Putin and are calling for Armenia to leave Collective Security Treaty Organization (#CSTO) - Putin’s worthless attempt at creating his own NATO. Members: Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Armenia, Russia (CSTO)

United States

Seattle

russians arrested for protesting the russian invasion of Ukraine

• Olesya Krivtsova, Олеся Кривцова, Russian Teenager Must Remain Under House Arrest Until Trial Over Online Posts
  • 19-year-old faces 5 years in prison in Russia
  • “She’s not a patriot” and classmates have her arrested: 19 year old risks 5 years in prison in Russia, January 9, 2023
  • https://twitter.com/BBCSteveR/status/1625540378144423938

• Police arrest 4 Moscow residents honoring Dnipro missile strike victims with flowers at the monument of Lesya Ukrainka, one of 🇺🇦 best known poets.

• Alexandra Skochilenko, A Russian musician mounts a modest antiwar protest and pays the price Alexandra Skochilenko faces 10 years in prison, bullying and abuse as Moscow makes examples of small-time activists (archive)
  • She Posted Anti-War Stickers in A Russian Grocery Store. She Now Faces Up to 10 Years in Prison.

• #Russia: Family arrested at a #Krasnodar restaurant “Na Drovoi” for having an anti-war conversation. Person overheard Olesya & Alexei Ovchinnikov’s table conversation and called the police. Police arrested them at the restaurant and took away their 9-year-old child.

• Alexey Moskalev: Russian police arrest father charged with ‘discrediting’ army after daughter drew anti-war picture at school
  • Alexey Moskalev: ‘The FSB said I’m raising my daughter wrong’ A single father faces felony charges after his daughter drew an anti-war picture at school
  • https://twitter.com/ovdinfo_en/status/1630876575829721090
  • https://twitter.com/ovdinfo_en/status/1630973964326428678
  • The father —to jail, his daughter —orphanage

• Maksim Lypkan: Those who mock Russians’ passivity under Putin’s dictatorship might try to imagine themselves in the place of 18-year old antiwar activist Maksim Lypkan.

russians sentenced for protesting the russian invasion of Ukraine

• Alexei Gorinov, 7 years: A Moscow councillor has been jailed for seven years for speaking out against Russia’s war in Ukraine - in what is said to be the first full jail term under new laws targeting dissent. Alexei Gorinov, 60, was arrested in April after he was filmed criticising the invasion in a city council meeting., July 8, 2022

• Ilya Yashin, 8.5 years: One of Russia’s most prominent opposition figures, Ilya Yashin, has been jailed for eight-and-a-half years for spreading “fake news” about the country’s military. One of few Kremlin critics to stay in Russia after it invaded Ukraine, Yashin continued to speak out against the war. He was arrested after he condemned suspected Russian war crimes in the Ukrainian town of Bucha., December 9, 2022

• Maria Ponomarenko, 6 years: Russian journalist Maria Ponomarenko jailed for highlighting Mariupol killings, February 25, 2023
  • https://twitter.com/yasminalombaert/status/1629990008995172352

russians sentenced for refusing to participate in the russian invasion of Ukraine

• Marsel Kandarov, 5 years: Russian Soldier Jailed for 5 Years for Refusing To Fight in Ukraine

russians tried in absentia for opposing the russian invasion of Ukraine

“ The war against Ukraine is the most destructive and dehumanizing thing that has happened to Russia in recent memory. Without reason or cause, my country invaded the territory of our neighbor that we used to consider a brotherly state. It sent out tanks to seize the Ukrainian capital. It sent planes to bomb Ukrainian cities. It ruined countless human lives. It razed dozens of cities and settlements to the ground. It occupied Ukrainian lands and called them its own with utter disregard for international law.

This war has no justification. Its horror and senselessness are too obvious. But the people who ordered the invasion —Vladimir Putin and his close circle —cannot back down as they are the real criminals and they are afraid of being punished for their crime.

— Dmitry Glukhovsky, “When Governments Make Immoral Laws, it Is Our Duty to Disobey Them”

Legal Context

• Russia/Laws

• Russian Supreme Court finally confirmed the sentence to 15-year-old teenager who had wanted to blow up the FSB (Federal Security Service) building in Minecraft: Nikita Uvarov was sentenced to 5 years in prison.

• Bsodislav, Two questions for everyone complaining BWAAA WHY DON’T RUSSIANS PROTEST: 1. Have you ever been beaten by riot police? 2. Have you asked your governments why they ignored human rights violations, political assassinations and election fraud in Russia for decades selling riot gear?

• Under new law, Russian troops face 10 years in jail for surrender, refusal to fight

russians killing themselves rather than participating in the russian invasion of Ukraine

• Sergei Gridin: In the Moscow region, a conscript committed suicide because he did not want to fight in Ukraine The conscript left a suicide note. He said that the command wanted to send him to Ukraine. He asked his commander not to send him to the war, after which they started mocking him.
  • Sergei Gridin, a 20-year-old conscript from the Komi Republic in northwestern Russia, has committed suicide after refusing to be deployed to Ukraine. “I have decided to die without other people’s blood on my hands," read Gridin’s suicide note.
  • https://www.thedailybeast.com/russian-conscript-sergei-gridin-reportedly-kills-himself-to-avoid-ukraine-war
  • https://theins.ru/en/news/259409

• Ivan Petunin: The Russian rapper Ivan Petunin has committed suicide. He recorded a message to his fans about mobilization. He said he refuses to murder another man. He said Putin has taken all Russian men captive, leaving them with 3 choices: becoming a murderer, going to prison or suicide.
  • https://www.outlookindia.com/international/russian-rapper-kills-himself-to-avoid-serving-in-war-against-ukraine-news-227542

russians counter-protesting at pro-war rallies

Kremlintarianism/Rage Against the War Machine Rally

• Russian Support for Putin’s War Falling Fast as Economic Fallout Bites—Poll

Anti-war action

• Russian anti-war partisan group RDPS is targeting fuel trains bound for the front lines, burning signalling cabinets in order to force them to change route or stop altogether. A military fuel train was forced all the way to Smolensk, where it found yet another surprise sabotage waiting for it.

See also

• Freedom for Russia Legion

• Russian invasion of Ukraine/Belarusians against the war

• Russian invasion of Ukraine/Ukrainian voices

• Agency Denial