In Russia, the authorities began to fight the movement of “mobilized wives”

The authorities are trying to nip the movement in the bud before it becomes a powerful force.

In Russia, the authorities began to counteract the growing movement of wives and mothers of men mobilized for the war against Ukraine. The Russian opposition publication “ Important Stories ” writes about this .

It is noted that in recent weeks, the authorities of several Russian regions have banned the holding of rallies by the wives of those mobilized – the women are demanding the return of their husbands from the war. However, the matter did not stop there. It is known that, at least in the Kemerovo Region and Krasnoyarsk Territory, police came to the homes of women who were in chat rooms where such actions were discussed.

Security forces threaten the wives of the occupiers with liability for participating in “unauthorized” rallies; in some cases, women were forced to show correspondence on social networks. Moreover, such visits took place even in those settlements where the holding of a rally was not announced, but only its possibility was discussed.

“I don’t know how they found us. The numbers are hidden. (…) They decided, apparently, to nip it in the bud, in case we go to an unauthorized rally, since an authorized one was refused,” said one of the women.

It is known that applications to hold a rally on November 19 were submitted by activists in several Russian regions. However, in none of them the authorities allowed these events.

The reasons for refusal are strange, if not ridiculous. For example, in Novosibirsk, the mayor’s office explained the refusal by saying that the goals of the rally (to bring men home from the war) “violated the principle of legality.” In Krasnoyarsk, authorities cited quarantine restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The situation with mobilization in Russia

As UNIAN wrote, not daring to carry out a new wave of mobilization on the eve of the upcoming “elections” of the President of the Russian Federation, the Kremlin decided to rely on recruiting “volunteers”. The regions of the Russian Federation were forced to report weekly on the amount of recruited “cannon fodder”. Local authorities are recommended to recruit primarily prisoners and those who have already served time, persons under investigation, debtors, etc.

At the same time, those mobilized in the Russian army themselves are used as property without rights. Numerous facts have been confirmed where soldiers were literally sold to so-called PMCs owned by various influential individuals and corporations.

(C)UNIAN 2023