Protests Against Sending Mobilized Russians To Fight In Ukraine Spread To 15 Federal Subjects – OpEd
By Paul Goble
The Verstka news agency has posted an interactive map showing where protests against sending newly mobilized Russians to fight in Ukraine have occurred. So far, they have spread to 15 federal subjects, including those along the border with Ukraine, those in Central Russia, Tatarstan, Tomsk and others as well.
Most of those taking part in these protests are wives, mothers and children of the newly mobilized and they are demanding that the authorities block the dispatch of their men to fight in Ukraine and to return those who have already been sent there (verstka.media/protesty-rodstvennikov-mobilizovannyh-karta/).
In some of the federal subjects, officials have promised that they will work to ensure that none of the mobilized from these areas are on the front lines and that those in Ukraine at all should be returned to Russia. Protesters are also demanding a roundtable with the defense ministry to discuss this situation.
Some of the protesters aren’t waiting for the authorities to do anything. Instead, they are travelling to places such as Ukraine’s Luhansk Oblast where mobilized Russians have been sent. They want to do what they can to help their men escape service on the front lines, the news agency reports.
