“There are no words, I want to scream”

Editorial “Layout” November 10, 2023 |

Relatives of those mobilized are preparing rallies throughout the country, but not all relatives of the military support them

On November 7, relatives of Russian conscripts went out on the first picket demanding that their relatives be returned home. This happened in Moscow: the authorities did not agree on holding a separate action, and relatives of the military joined the Communist Party of the Russian Federation rally dedicated to the 106th anniversary of the October Revolution. After this, similar protests began to be organized throughout the country. Wives and mothers write to the authorities, knock on the doorsteps of administrations and try to come to an agreement with the authorities. “Verstka” studied chats and groups where relatives of those mobilized are coordinated and spoke with their participants.

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The largest group, dedicated to the return of those mobilized home, consists of almost seven thousand people. Basically they talk about the organization of rallies. Administrators publish templates for appeals to deputies, recommendations for direct organizers, and repost news and messages from bloggers regarding the service life of the mobilized.

“Whoever wanted to, but did not have time to submit applications on the 19th, submit on November 25 - 26, or on December 2 - 3. An application must be submitted at least 10 days in advance. Winter is coming. Those who have already submitted - write about the results in the comments or to the admins in a PM. We need to know how many regions are participating,” write the group’s administrators.

The same group maintains a list of regional chats dedicated to future rallies. Now it contains 27 links - from the annexed Crimea to the Amur region. Relatives hope that they will be able to get out on November 19. In Novosibirsk, the authorities have already agreed to hold a rally, in the Chelyabinsk region they proposed holding a meeting with the military registration and enlistment office, but in most regions there have been no noticeable successes so far.

Participation in peaceful assemblies without weapons is an inalienable human right guaranteed by the Constitution, according to Vverstka’s interlocutors . Irina I is 29 years old, she has two children and a husband who has been at war for more than a year, since October 2022. The girl does not live in Moscow, but she specially went to the capital for the rally. If it is possible to coordinate the holding of the event in her hometown, she plans to attend it too.

According to Irina, rallies are an extreme measure to which the authorities brought the relatives of those mobilized by their inaction. The girl said that she and her associates wrote to deputies, filmed video messages to the authorities, but received only replies in response. The authorities insist that those mobilized have leaves and rotations and that is enough. “We just need demobilization,” says Irina.

The girl calls the mobilization itself a “social catastrophe” : “The authorities are afraid of this topic, they are trying to avoid it, they are trying to forget about those mobilized. That is, they simply took people a year ago and forgot about them. They said: wait for the end of the SVO. And it’s unclear when it will end. But we will not approve rallies in the center of Moscow. There are no deadlines, but only this phrase: “Until the end of the SVO.” And at this time, the mobilized are simply in slavery. These are office workers, mechanics, tractor drivers, salesmen, anyone - that is, people who were not associated with military affairs. This is simply a social catastrophe. Families are separated and children are growing up without fathers.”

Irina opposes not only mobilization, but also the war in general . Despite the fact that anti-war positions are actually prohibited in Russia, the girl believes that most people think the same way as she does. “Well, this is not normal, people should live in peace. I want peace, for this to all end, because no territory is worth human life. It's just darkness. There are no words, I want to scream,” sums up Irina.

Another participant in the chats where the organization of rallies is coordinated is 25-year-old Olga i , a lawyer from Moscow, who has been waiting for 14 months for her lover to return from the war. The girl explains the need for holding rallies simply: public demand and the same inaction of the authorities. “It’s easier for me if there is at least hope that I can bring the return of my loved one closer. The roof is already moving well,” she says.

Like Irina, Olga says that she and other relatives of the mobilized tried all available methods to reach the authorities: petitions, personal reception with officials, and so on. However, the girl believes, these methods have exhausted themselves, and that’s why people went to rallies . “The authorities pretend that we don’t exist and send their faithful dogs like Sladkov i and Kashevarova i to push us rhetoric about a ‘difficult situation,’” says Olga.

Olga considers both mobilization and the war in general a mistake. She calls the current situation a betrayal of the mobilized and their families . “I believe that people from both the Russian and Ukrainian sides undeservedly die and remain disabled for the sake of the commercial and political interests of the elite. I sincerely feel sorry for everyone who was affected by the conflict that began in 2014,” says the girl.

However, not all relatives support the idea of ​​rallies. Such women gathered in another large group, or rather in a chat. At the time of publication of this text, there are a little more than three thousand people there. If you enter the words “rally” or “picket” in the chat search, you will see that the group’s administrators are suppressing any attempts to talk about street protests.

“We are deleting all messages calling for rallies! If such messages are allowed in the future, the group will have to be deleted. Unfortunately. We act only within the law,” writes chat administrator Elena.

“Let’s leave the rally for later. We will always be on time. First, we need to achieve it through legal means,” asks chat participant Olga.

“Today I want to touch on a rather controversial topic - the topic of rallies and protests. We all want one thing - the return of our dear men home. To achieve this, a lot of work has been going on for months. But everything we do, we do exclusively within the law. <…> Yes, we are against rallies and pickets and have written about this many times. Yes, we know that an officially approved rally and single picket are within the framework of the law. But we still don’t support this type of event,” writes another chat moderator, Victoria.

Some chat participants explain their position differently - by caring for their mobilized husbands.

“ Men will be punished for pickets and rallies, their full names will quickly be sent there... And they will be sent forward in the front rows so that others will be discouraged ... Unfortunately, such methods exist, and we must not forget about it...” writes chat participant Natalya.

All these girls did not talk to the “Verstka” correspondent. One of them asked the question “Whose Crimea?” and refused to communicate until she received a response, while the rest simply blocked after the first message.

Cover: Dmitry Osinnikov

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