Rusland spreekt zich uit tegen de oorlog

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Bij wijze van uitzondering een stuk in het Engels, een overzicht van WRI van mensen en organisaties die zich hebben uitgesproken tegen de aanval op Oekraïne.

A huge number of Russian citizens are against the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Many express their position through open letters and appeals or simply publications on social media. The Yabloko party, the majority of opposition politicians and activists, many municipal deputies across the country, and even several deputies of the State Duma and the Federation Council have publicly condemned the war. More than 1,100,000 people have subscribed under the anti-war petition written by a human rights activist Lev Ponomarev. Representatives of many professional communities — doctors, IT-specialists, teachers, designers, scientists, journalists, philanthropists, and various cultural workers — have signed collective open letters. In interviews and social networks a large number of famous Russians: nationally beloved musicians, internationally recognized filmmakers, TV hosts, actors, sportspeople, and businesspeople speak out against the war. Various independent media outlets have published statements against the war, and several print media outlets have come out with special covers. The list of the people and the organizations which publicly oppose the war grows every day.

This list is constantly being updated. If you want to help us update it with new data, write an email to stopwarua22@gmail.com.

Political movements and civil activists

  • The opposition party Yabloko openly opposed the war with Ukraine. As early as February 13, the party began collecting signatures against a possible escalation of the conflict, and over 84,000 people have signed it so far. After the full-fledged war began, the Federal Political Committee of Yabloko also demanded that Putin immediately stop the military actions (Yabloko, Feb 24);

The Yabloko party considers the war with Ukraine the gravest crime. <…> We are sure that millions of Russians are against the war. Yabloko demands that President Putin immediately cease hostilities and urgently start internationally mediated peace negotiations

  • Human rights activist Lev Ponomaryov’s petition against the war with Ukraine has gathered more than 1,100,000 signatures in a week, and the number is growing (Change.org, Feb 24);
  • Human rights activist and politician, member of the federal political committee of Yabloko, Lev Shlosberg has published a ‘petition to the people of the world,’ calling on Russians for a ‘peaceful, non-violent civil resistance to war’ (Echo of Moscow, Feb 24);

This day will go down in the history of Russia as one of the most horrific. It is a day of disgrace, a day of shame, a day of a global-scale tragedy

  • Municipal deputies from different Russian cities spoke out against the war with Ukraine. A collective open letter to the citizens of Russia was signed by more than 270 people (Novaya Gazeta, Feb 24);

We, people’s elected deputies, unequivocally condemn the Russian army’s attack on Ukraine. This is an unprecedented atrocity that has and can have no justification. The decision to attack was made personally by President of Russia, Vladimir Putin. We are convinced that the citizens of Russia did not give him such a mandate

  • An appeal by Russian intellectuals against a possible war with Ukraine, published on January 30, was signed by 90 people, including chairman of the Yabloko party Grigory Yavlinsky, politician and economist Andrei Nechayev, sociologist Lev Gudkov, and film director Garri Bardin (Echo of Moscow, Jan 30);
  • Chairman of the unregistered opposition Libertarian Party of Russia Boris Fedyukin has released an appeal to libertarians with the condemnation of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine (LPR Telegram channel, Feb 24);
  • Eleven public figures have announced the creation of the Anti-War Committee of Russia. It includes politician and entrepreneur Mikhail Khodorkovsky, politician and chess player Garry Kasparov, politicians Dmitry Gudkov and Vladimir Kara-Murza, economists Sergey Aleksashenko and Sergey Guriev, historian Yury Pivovarov, journalist Yevgeny Kiselev, entrepreneurs Boris Zimin and Yevgeny Chichvarkin, and writer Viktor Shenderovich (Khodorkovsky’s Telegram channel, Feb 27);
  • More than 30 members and deputies of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and the Leninist Communist Union of Youth of the Russian Federation, including CPRF candidate for the Duma Mikhail Lobanov, have signed an open letter against the war with Ukraine (Google Forms, Mar 2);
  • Social democratic organization Russian Socialist Movement has called for the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine (RSM, Feb 25).

Russian anti-militarist movements have also opposed the war:

  • Soldier’s Mothers of St. Petersburg (VK, Feb 25);
  • Alexey Tabalov’s human rights organization Recruit’s School (VK, Feb 24);
  • Movement of conscientious objectors (VK, Feb 24);
  • Feminist Anti-War Resistance (Doxa, Feb 25).

Appeals of professional communities

Representatives of many professions have published collective open letters to Vladimir Putin or Russian citizens condemning the war in Ukraine:

  • Open letter from Russian culture workers (artists, curators, architects, art critics, art managers) against the war with Ukraine — more than 17,000 signatures (Meduza, Feb 26);
  • Appeal by famous theater workers, published by theater activist Maria Revyakina, was signed by 17 people, including nationally famous conductor Vladimir Spivakov, actors Alisa Freindlich, Yevgeny Mironov, Konstantin Raikin, Nina Usatova, and Oleg Basilashvili (Revyakina’s Facebook, Feb 26);
  • Appeal demanding an immediate end to the invasion of Ukraine, published by the Union of Cinematographers and Professional Film Organizations and Associations of Russia — more than 80 cinematographers, including the chairman of the Union, filmmaker Alexey Popogrebsky and its board members, filmmakers Boris Khlebnikov, Vitaly Mansky, Andrei Proshkin, and also filmmaker Alexander Lungin and actor Yury Borisov (Kinosoyuz, Feb 24);
  • Open letter from Russian scientists and science journalists against the Russian aggression in Ukraine — more than 5,400 scientists, including Yury Apresyan, Mikhail Gelfand, Alexey Gippius, Sergei Guriev, Alexander Markov, Svetlana Tolstaya, Boris Trushin, and Fyodor Uspensky (Troitsky Variant — Nauka, Feb 24);
  • Open letter from economists of Russian origin against the war with Ukraine — more than 210 people, including co-founder of Yandex Ilya Segal, Sergey Aleksashenko, Konstantin Sonin (Google Sites, Feb 27);
  • Open letter from representatives of the Russian scientific diaspora against the war with Ukraine, initiated by the International Association of Russian-Speaking Scientists — more than 48 people, including 2010 Nobel Prize-winning physicist Andre Geim (Troitsky Variant — Nauka, Feb 25);
  • Open letter from students and professors of Russian universities against the war in Ukraine — more than 14,000 people (Znak, Feb 24);

It is generally accepted that science and the Academy should be free from politics. But the time has come when this freedom has no place to exist. War will affect all aspects of life, including science and education. Free science and academic activities are not to be combined with bloodshed and suffering

  • Appeal of cultural figures demanding an end to the war with Ukraine, published by journalist Mikhail Zygar — 13 people, including famous writers Boris Akunin, Dmitry Bykov, Dmitry Glukhovsky, and Vladimir Sorokin, journalists Leonid Parfyonov and 2021 Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitry Muratov, publisher Irina Prokhorova, actress Chulpan Khamatova, and filmmakers Andrei and Ilya Khrzhanovsky (Meduza, Feb 24);

The war that Russia has launched against Ukraine is a disgrace. It is our shame, but, unfortunately, the responsibility for it will fall on our children, the generation of very young and even unborn Russians. We do not want our children to live in an aggressor country, to be ashamed that their army had attacked a neighboring independent state. We call upon all citizens of Russia to say ‘no’ to this war

  • An open letter from Russian journalists and correspondents who write about Russian foreign policy, with the condemnation of Russia’s ‘military operation’ in Ukraine, published by journalist Elena Chernenko (who was soon expelled from the Kremlin pool for this), signed by 100 journalists from the following media outlets: Novaya Gazeta, Dozhd, TASS, RBC, RTVi, Kommersant, Important Stories, Echo of Moscow, Doxa, and many others (Chernenko’s Telegram channel, Feb 24);
  • Appeal of journalists of independent Russian media from Syndicate-100 against the ‘massacre’ waged by the Russian authorities (Wayback Machine, Feb 24; original article in Novaya Gazeta is now censored by the Prosecutor-General’s Office and Roskomnadzor);

Pain, anger, and shame — these are the three words that reflect how we feel about what is happening. <…> Ever since the Cuban Missile Crisis the world has never been so close to a global catastrophe. We, journalists of independent Russian media outlets, declare that we are against the massacre waged by the Russian authorities. We promise to report honestly about what is happening as long as we have the opportunity to do so

  • Open letter from representatives of major Russian charities and nonprofit organizations demanding an end to the war in Ukraine, published by Nyuta Federmesser, founder and member of the governing board of the Vera Hospice Charity Fund — more than 560 people (Forbes Live, Feb 26);
  • Open letter from IT workers against Russia’s war with Ukraine, published by the product manager of HeadHunter, Natalia Lukyanchikova — more than 30,000 people (VC.ru, Feb 26);
  • Open letter from Russian doctors, nurses, and paramedics demanding an end to the military actions in Ukraine — more than 11,000 people (Meduza, Feb 26);

We took an oath to help all people, regardless of their nationality, religion or political views. But right now, our help is not enough. The fighting will take so many lives and cripple so many lives that we will not be able to help in all our efforts. Cries of pain and calls to mothers are all in the same language

  • Open letter from Russian teachers against the war in Ukraine — more than 4,500 people (Meduza, Feb 26);
  • Open letter from designers and illustrators from Russia against the war with Ukraine — more than 10,000 people (Meduza, Feb 27);
  • Open letter from architects and urban planners of Russia against the military actions in Ukraine — more than 6,500 people (Project Russia, Feb 26);
  • Open letter of workers of the Russian fashion and beauty industry, as well as lifestyle media against the war with Ukraine — more than 4,300 people (The Blueprint, Feb 28);
  • Open letter from Russian psychologists and psychiatrists against the military actions in Ukraine — more than 4,900 people (Google Docs);
  • Open letters from Russian lawyers against military actions in Ukraine — more than 4,300 people total (Google Forms, Mari Davtyan’s Facebook);
  • Appeal by the members of the Council of the Russian Federal Bar Association (RFBA, Feb 27);
  • Open letter from employees and alumni of the Higher School of Economics, Moscow against the war with Ukraine — more than 4,400 people (Google Docs, Feb 27);
  • Open letter from current and former students of Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology against the war in Ukraine — more than 2,500 people (Doxa, Feb 27);
  • Open appeal from students, employees, and alumni of Moscow State Institute of International Relations against the military actions in Ukraine — more than 1,100 people (Google Docs);
  • Appeal by the students and employees of Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology to the university’s administration with a demand to publicly condemn the military actions in Ukraine (Meduza, Mar 1);
  • Open letter from Russian game industry workers against the war with Ukraine — more than 2,100 people (TJournal, Feb 27);
  • Open letter from Russian intellectual game club participants against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — more than 1,500 Russians (Google Docs, Feb 28);
  • Open letter of Russian geographers against the military actions in Ukraine — more than 1,400 people (Doxa, Mar 1);
  • Petition of Russian translators against the invasion of Ukraine — more than 1,400 people (Change.org, Feb 26);
  • Open letter from the Russian advertisement and PR industry against the war with Ukraine — more than 1,200 people (Google Docs, Feb 27);
  • Open letter from Russian ecologists, ecoactivists, and ecojournalists against the military actions in Ukraine — more than 1,000 people (Google Docs);
  • Открытое письмо российских историков против войны с Украиной — более 1 100 человек (Google Forms);
  • Open letter of Russian writers and poets against the invasion of Ukraine — more than 630 people (Doxa, 1 мар);
  • Open letter from the educational community of Russia against the aggression on Ukraine — more than 900 people (Google Docs);
  • Open letter from the Russian podcast industry against the military actions in Ukraine — more than 450 people (Podcasts.ru, Feb 26);
  • Open letter from Russian animators against the invasion of Ukraine  — more than 390 people (Novaya Gazeta, Feb 25);

Animation, and all art in general, has always been imbued with an anti-war spirit. We believe that today’s military actions are directed not just against our Ukrainian friends and colleagues but against all people, humanity, and Human in general

  • Open letter from Russian comedians against the war in Ukraine — more than 260 people (Meduza, Feb 27);
  • Open letter from Russian anthropologists against the military actions in Ukraine — more than 600 people (Change.org, Feb 27);
  • Appeal by members of the Interdisciplinary Clinical Association of Reproductive Medicine against Russian military actions in Ukraine, published by its head, biologist Ilya Volodyaev, — more than 220 people (Volodyaev’s Facebook, Feb 25);
  • Appeal by clergymen of the Russian Orthodox Church against the war in Ukraine — more than 190 people (Meduza, Mar 1);

We, the priests and deacons of the Russian Orthodox Church, each on his own behalf, appeal to all on whom the fratricidal war in Ukraine depends for reconciliation and an immediate cease-fire. We send this appeal after the Last Judgment Sunday and in anticipation of the Forgiveness Sunday

Statements of celebrities and organizations

Many well-known Russians have appealed to the citizens and spoken out against the war with Ukraine through social networks and interviews. Among them are opposition politicians, activists and human rights activists:

  • politician and political prisoner Alexey Navalny, former mayor of Yekaterinburg Yevgeny Roizman, lawyer and former head of an association of lawyers and journalists Team 29 Ivan Pavlov (Meduza, Feb 24);
  • politician and former State Duma deputy Dmitry Gudkov (Dozhd, Feb 24);
  • politician and human rights activist Marina Litvinovich, who, after the announcement of a spontaneous protest rally against the war with Ukraine in various Russian cities on the first day of the war, was detained by police (RBC, Feb 24);
  • politician and entrepreneur Mikhail Khodorkovsky (Khodorkovsky’s Telegram channel, Feb 24);
  • politician Ilya Yashin (Radio Svoboda, Feb 25);
  • politician Irina Fatyanova (Wonderzine, Feb 25);

Businesspeople:

  • entrepreneur, one of the richest businesspeople of Russia Oleg Deripaska (RBC, Feb 27);
  • entrepreneur, founder of Tinkoff Bank Oleg Tinkov (Tinkov’s Instagram, Feb 28);
  • entrepreneur Yevgeny Chichvarkin (Chichvarkin’s Facebook, Feb 25);
  • entrepreneur, co-owner of Alfa-Bank Mikhail Fridman, publisher Boris Kupriyanov (Meduza, Feb 27);
  • entrepreneur, co-owner of Severstal and supermarket chain Lenta Alexey Mordashov, founder of tech shop chain M.Video Alexander Tynkovan, co-owner of Tekhnonikol Igor Rybakov, businessman David Yakobashvili (RBC, Feb 28);
  • co-founder of Qiwi Boris Kim, media manager and former Meduza publisher Ilya Krasilshchik, entrepreneur Nikolai Davydov, HR specialist Alyona Vladimirskaya (Forbes, Feb 24);

Scientists:

  • political scientist Ekaterina Schulmann, sociologist Viktor Vakshtayn (Meduza, Feb 24);
  • linguist Svetlana Tolstaya, writer Leo Tolstoy’s great-granddaughter, with her daughters, linguist Marfa Tolstaya and journalist Fyokla Tolstaya (Svetlana’s Facebook, Feb 27);

Writers and poets:

Musicians and music industry workers:

  • Valery Meladze, Zemfira Ramazanova, Lolita Milyavskaya, Boris Grebenshchikov, Yury Shevchuk (DDT), Miron Fyodorov (Oxxxymiron), Sergey Lazarev, Svetlana Loboda, Ivan Alexeyev (Noize MC), Vladi (Kasta), Aigel Gaisina (Aigel), Kirill Ivanov (SBPCh) (Meduza, Feb 24);
  • Elizaveta Gyrdymova (Monetochka), Ekaterina Kishchuk, Yanis Badurov (Yanix), Fyodor Insarov (Feduk), Alexander Smirnov (Gone.Fludd), Daniel Bumagin (White Punk), Yury Drobitko (104), hip hop group Grot (The Flow, Feb 24);
  • Alisher Morgenshtern, Manizha Sangin, the bands Little Big and Bi-2, Danil Prytkov (Niletto), Darya Shikhanova (Dora) (Dozhd, Feb 25);
  • Egor Kreed (Znak, Feb 24);
  • Leonid Agutin (Agutin’s Instagram, Mar 2);
  • Olga Buzova, Natasha Korolyova, band Pornofilmy (Rosbalt, Feb 25);
  • bands Kino, Affinazh, Tarakany, Lumen (Reproduktor, Feb 26);
  • Roman Khudyakov (Loqiemean), Oleg Nesterov (Megapolis), bands Cream Soda, KDIMB (The Village, Feb 24);
  • Vera Brezhneva, Natalia Ionova (Glukoza), Musya Totibadze (RBC, Feb 25);
  • band Mumiy Troll, which has suspended all concerts (Lenta.Ru, Mar 3);
  • Yana Rudkovskaya (Dozhd, Feb 24);
  • Andrei Makarevich (Mashina Vremeni) (Meduza, Feb 25);
  • band ГШ / Glintshake (VKontakte, Feb 28);
  • lead singer of the band Shortparis Nikolay Komyagin, who was fined for participating in an anti-war protest in St. Petersburg (Apologiya Protesta Telegram channel, Feb 26);

What is happening right now is pure madness. The people who started this war are insane. They are a disgrace to Russia — Boris Grebenshchikov, musician

I was sure that war was impossible. I really feel that Ukrainians are our family and our brothers, between whom war is impossible. I have been reading the assurances of this made by the current government with my own eyes. <…> I wish everyone to live to see the time when Russia will officially list and acknowledge the crimes of the current government — Vladi (Kasta), musician

Television celebrities, hosts, and showpeople:

I’m ashamed I was born on this day — Alexander Gudkov, showman

Actors and actresses:

Filmmakers and other cinematographers:

  • Alexander Rodnyansky, Kantemir Balagov, Roman Volobuyev, Viktor Kosakovsky (Meduza, Feb 24);
  • Andrei Zvyagintsev, Yury Bykov, Kira Kovalenko, Mikhail Mestetsky, Nigina Sayfullaeva, Oksana Karas, Roman Vasyanov (Meduza, Feb 26);

Comedians and stand-up artists:

  • Maxim Galkin, Garik Kharlamov, Danila Poperechny, Alexander Dolgopolov, also Denis Chuzhoy, who later received death threats because of his statement (Meduza, Feb 24, Mar 1);
  • Semyon Slepakov (Meduza, Feb 25);
  • Alexander Nezlobin (Rosbalt, Feb 25);

Other culture workers and celebrities:

  • ballet dancer Anastasiya Volochkova (Rosbalt, Feb 25);
  • conductor Ivan Velikanov, who gave an anti-war speech before a performance at the Nizhny Novgorod Opera House and was subsequently suspended from performing at the Golden Mask Festival for this speech (Znak, Mar 2);
  • players of the TV intellectual game ‘What? Where? When?’ Denis Galiakberov and Nikolai Krapil, who have refused to participate in the game on Channel One (Krapil’s Facebook, Feb 28);
  • former director of the Meyerhold Center, who had resigned on the first day of the war in protest, Elena Kovalskaya (The Village, Feb 24);
  • theater director Dmitry Volkostrelov, fired from his position as artistic director of the Meyerhold Center for his anti-war statements (Meduza, Mar 1);

Sportspeople:

  • figure skater and two-time world champion Yevgenia Medvedeva, figure skater and four-time world champion Alexey Yagudin, national soccer team player Fyodor Smolov, CSKA coach Vasily Berezutsky, footballer and Zenit defender Yaroslav Rakitsky, footballer and Rubin halfback Konstantin Kuchayev, Zenit coach Sergey Semak, biathlete Larisa Kuklin, mixed martial arts fighter and interim UFC champion Pyotr Yan (RBC, Feb 25);
  • tennis player Andrei Rublyov, ATP No. 1 ranked tennis player Daniil Medvedev (CNN, 25 Feb);
  • tennis player Yevgeny Kafelnikov (Sports.ru, Feb 24);
  • hockey player, captain of the Washington Capitals Alexander Ovechkin (RBC, Feb 25);
  • chess player Ian Nepomniachtchi (Dozhd, Feb 24);

YouTube bloggers:

Journalists:

Media:

Today we all met early in the newsroom. We are in grief. Our country, by the order of President Putin, has started a war with Ukraine. <…> We will publish this issue of Novaya Gazeta in two languages, Ukrainian and Russian. Because we do not recognize Ukraine as an enemy, and Ukrainian language as the language of the enemy. And we will never recognize it this way. And one last thing. Only the anti-war movement of Russians can save life on this planet

  • online TV channel Dozhd;
  • Internet media Mediazona Belarus;
  • Internet outlet The Flow;
  • Internet outlet Wonderzine;
  • outlets which write about fashion and lifestyle: The Blueprint, Buro, Good Morning, Karl;
  • several newspapers have come out with special covers opposing the war in Ukraine: Novaya Gazeta, Sovetskiy Sport (Wonderzine, Feb 25);
  • the newspapers of an Ural media holding VK-Media, the front pages of which carried the anti-war slogan ‘This madness must be stopped!’, the police seizing the entire print run on the same day (Znak, Mar 2);

Other organizations:

  • Russian Direct Investment Fund, exporter of the Sputnik vaccine to foreign countries (Meduza, Mar 2);
  • Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, which stopped working on exhibitions as a protest against the invasion of Ukraine (Meduza, Feb 26);
  • Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture, and Design, which also suspended its work due to hostilities in Ukraine (Strelka Mag, Feb 28);
  • cultural and educational center in Yekaterinburg, Yeltsin Center (Meduza, Feb 26);
  • Internet project Suffering Middle Ages (VK, Feb 24);
  • «Titanic’s Historical Research Community» (VK, Feb 24);
  • ecological movement in Arkhangelsk «42» (7×7, Feb 27);
  • pharmacy chain Ozerki (TJournal, Mar 1).

Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia (1990—1996) Andrey Kozyrev has publicly condemned the invasion of Ukraine and the possibility of a nuclear war (Dozhd, Feb 28).

Founders of the Immortal Regiment movement, Igor Dmitriev, Sergey Lapenkov, and Sergey Kolotovkin, spoke out against the war with Ukraine (ТV2, Feb 24).

The problem is that few people think that the great-grandchildren of those who fought back then (who we call The Immortal Regiment today) are thrown into this war, on one side or the other. I think our great-grandfathers would probably curse us for what has happened — Sergey Lapenkov

On January 28th, Colonel General Leonid Ivashov, Chairman of the ‘Assembly of the Russian Officers,’ had published an appeal to the President and the citizens of Russia entitled ‘The Eve of War,’ in which he condemned the possible recognition of the Donetsk and Luhansk republics and the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine (Echo of Moscow, Feb 6).

Former head of a popular Russian news aggregator Yandex.Novosti Lev Gershenzon has spoken out against the war and urged his colleagues not to suppress information about Russia’s war with Ukraine in the service’s news feed (Gershenzon’s Facebook, Mar 1).

Founder of a website The Question, former Yandex employee Tonya Samsonova has quit her job to protest Yandex.Novosti’s concealment of the information about the shelling of civilians by the Russian military (Samsonova’s Facebook, Mar 2).

Due to the fact that Yandex does not display the information that Russian troops are shelling Ukrainian cities and killing civilians on the main page of Yandex, I ask that I be fired at my own request. I consider the company’s actions a crime and a complicity in the war and the murder — Tonya Samsonova

Statements of some government officials

Some government officials have spoken out against the war as well:

  • State Duma deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Oleg Smolin has spoken out against Russia’s military actions in Ukraine. Despite the fact that he had voted for the recognition of Donetsk and Luhansk, the deputy said that he was ‘shocked when he heard about the beginning of large-scale hostilities’ (Dozhd, Feb 25).
  • Another Duma deputy from the CPRF, Mikhail Matveyev, who had also voted for the recognition of the republics, has spoken out against the war, too (Dozhd, Feb 26).
  • Then, Duma deputy from the CPRF Vyacheslav Markhayev has also condemned the war with Ukraine, explaining that by voting for the recognition of the republics he had hoped for peace rather than war (Meduza, Feb 28).

To my great regret, the entire campaign of the recognition of the DPR and LPR had a completely different plan and intent, which was initially concealed, and as a result we have found ourselves in a full-scale confrontation and war between the two states. After recognizing the republics of the DPR and LPR, we had neither the stamina nor the political will to try to continue to reclaim their positions peacefully. Has there been no other means for ‘denazification’ and ‘demilitarization’ than military actions? — Vyacheslav Markhaev

  • Federation Council member Lyudmila Narusova has condemned military censorship and militaristic state propaganda and called for the creation of a humanitarian corridor for the removal of killed Russian soldiers’ bodies (Novaya Gazeta, Mar 2);
  • Deputy of the State Council of the Komi Republic and head of the local CPRF faction Viktor Vorobyov has spoken out against the war with Ukraine (Region-Expert, Mar 1).
  • Deputy head of Rossotrudnichestvo (Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States Affairs, Compatriots Living Abroad, and International Humanitarian Cooperation), former prosecutor of the Republic of Crimea and State Duma deputy from United Russia Natalya Poklonskaya has spoken out against the war in Ukraine (Wonderzine, Mar 2).

Dare to doubt yourself and have human compassion for the world, which is on the line. We have gone too far. And it seems to me that it is time we take responsibility in our own hands, not hand it over to those who have guns. I appeal to everyone, Russians and Ukrainians alike — Natalia Poklonskaya

  • The Council of Deputies of Moscow’s Yakimanka District has unanimously spoken out against the military actions in Ukraine (deputy Andrey Morev’s Facebook, Feb 28).
  • The Council of Deputies of Moscow’s Krasnoselsky District has spoken out against the military actions in Ukraine as well (chairman Ilya Yashin’s Facebook, Mar 2);
  • Former deputy chairman of the Krasnodar Public Chamber Igor Kolomiytsev, left his position in protest against the war in Ukraine. He has also resigned from his position as deputy editor-in-chief of the pro-government outlet Krasnodarskiye Izvestiya (93.Ru, Feb 25).

In social networks, the children of some Russian politicians and businessmen close to the government have spoken out against the war with Ukraine. Anti-war statements were published by the daughter of the Press Secretary for the President Dmitry Peskov Yelizaveta Peskova (she soon deleted the statement), the daughter of businessman Roman Abramovich Sofia Abramovich, the daughter and granddaughter of former Russian President Boris Yeltsin Tatiana Yumasheva and Maria Yumasheva (Mediazona, Feb 25).

– Overgenomen van War Resisters International

  • Uitgelichte afbeelding: By Medusa Project SIA / Charmer – Retrieved from meduza.io, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=42111482
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