Russian women demand Putin allow their conscripted loved ones to return from Ukraine

Two women have recorded a video message to Vladimir Putin demanding the return of their loved ones from the frontlines in Ukraine, according to Telegram channel Mobilisation News, which shared the videos on Monday.

The two messages were recorded ahead of Putin’s annual end-of-year Direct Line call-in show, which is due to take place on Thursday, in which Putin answers questions from a carefully vetted audience of journalists and members of the public.

In their videos, the women demand an “immediate solution and justice”, noting that their loved ones are obligated to remain on the frontlines for an open-ended amount of time, unlike prisoners who enlist in the Russian military to gain early release from prison, who are normally only required to serve for six months.

“We’re not asking for a second round of mobilisation. We’re asking for justice for our conscripted men. They deserve to be at home with their families,” Anastasia Slavik, whose husband was conscripted in 2022, said in her video, adding that conscripts were not even eligible to return home after being wounded, and called the length of time they were required to serve “a travesty”.

Yelena Trofimova, whose only son was conscripted into the army in September 2022, also bemoaned the length of time he had spent at the front in her message to Putin. “People who fought in Afghanistan spent two years there. When there was conflict in Chechnya, it was one year. Even the first prisoners who went to the special military operation returned home six months later. When will there be demobilisation for civilians?” she asked.

Much to the consternation of their loved ones, who regularly organise unsanctioned rallies outside the Russian Defence Ministry, Russians conscripted in 2022 are still serving at the front and have been given no end date for their military service.

One association of conscripts’ relatives — the Way Home movement — has been deemed a “foreign agent” by the Russian government, while activist Maria Andreyeva, a conscript’s wife who used to be closely involved with the movement, was forced to quit her job in August after she was deemed a “foreign agent” herself.