Shocked by the invasion of Ukraine, Russian personalities have made public their opposition to the war, despite the professional and personal risks that dissidence in Russia entails.
More than 1,800 people were arrested at rallies across the country as prominent Russians from the worlds of entertainment, business and journalism took the risk of speaking out.
When Elena Chernenko, the veteran diplomatic correspondent for the Kommersant newspaper, learned that Russia was invading Ukraine, she said she was stunned.
“Of course, I was surprised… Until yesterday morning, I refused to believe that Russia could launch a massive military operation against Ukraine,” said Chernenko, who believed that Russia could, at most, recognize the territories in the southeast of Ukraine.
“I thought all the talk about invasions was horrible hysteria. I discussed with people on Twitter and in person that nothing would happen, and it’s all thought out,” she said. “Maybe I don’t understand anything about Russian foreign policy anymore.”
After Putin announced the military operation, he wrote an open letter condemning the attack on Ukraine.
“War has never been and never will be a method of conflict resolution and there are no excuses for it,” he wrote. About 300 journalists have signed, including representatives of the state media.
In retaliation, she revealed that she has been expelled from the diplomatic group, which she has covered for more than 11 years, for “lack of professionalism”.
Chernenko remains a strong critic of Ukraine’s policy towards the Donbas region, but said that he could not justify the type of military operation that is now taking place.
In this sense, popular actors and musicians, some of whom are government employees, have also spoken out and seem to have been punished for their dissidence.
On Thursday, Ivan Urgant, host of a popular talk show on state Channel One, posted a black square on Instagram with the caption “Fear and pain. Not to the war”. Their show hasn’t aired since.
Channel One has claimed it’s just a scheduling problem, although several reports in the Russian media say they were blacklisted.
Elena Kovalskaya, director of the Meyerhold Center in Moscow, resigned from her job at the state-funded theater in protest against war. “It is impossible to work for a murderer and receive your salary from him,” he wrote about his decision.
“Our future is being taken away from us,” said Yuri Shevchuk, the leader of the classic Soviet rock band DDT and a veteran anti-war activist, who went to Chechnya in 1995 as part of a peace tour. “We are being dragged as if through an ice hole into the past, into the 19th, 18th and 17th centuries. And people refuse to accept it.”
Other people in the entertainment world who would normally avoid politics now oppose war.
This includes artists like rapper Oxxxymiron, who canceled six sold-out shows in Moscow and St. Petersburg and wrote: “I can’t entertain you when Russian missiles fall on Ukraine.”
Even relatives of some of Russia’s richest businessmen have made public their opposition to the war. Roman Abramovich’s daughter posted an Instagram photo that read “Putin wants a war with Ukraine,” crossing out the word Russia. “The biggest and most successful lie in Kremlin propaganda is that most Russians are with Putin.”
On Friday afternoon, Lisa Peskova, the daughter of Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov used Instagram to post a simple message on a black background: #Нетвойне, or “No to war”. So did Tatyana Yumasheva, the daughter of Boris Yeltsin.
While acts of dissent may not change the Kremlin policy, could indicate significantly less public or elite support for the military operation in Ukraine than the annexation of Crimea eight years ago.
Hours after Putin announced the military operation, protests broke out in the streets of Moscow and St. Petersburg and in more than other 50 Russian cities.
They were not the biggest protests Moscow has seen, but they were notable as a show of defiance despite threats that the government would take tougher action than usual.
“Not only did they go to war without us, they don’t even let you protest against a war,” said Zhanna, a young woman with dyed green hair, pointing at the police in riot helmets. “But war is never okay. I need to be here because I’m embarrassed”.
A young man held up a sign that said “Fuck the war!” Within seconds, four policemen were on top of him, dragging him into a police van as media and photographers swarmed around him. That scene was repeated dozens of times.
When the demonstrators were pushed out of the square, they began to march down the wide sidewalk of Tverskaya street, chanting “No to war”.
Several protesters said they wanted more people to oppose the war, a comment echoed by political analysts.
“The government can put down almost any protest right now,” said Tatyana Stanovaya, founder of R.Politik. “And for the situation to escalate, a lot more people would have to come out than yesterday.”
Despite the odds stacked against them, many Russians have said they feel it is their duty to speak up no matter the consequences.
“Everyone is doing this without worrying about their own future and threats,” said Dmitry Muratov, the editor Novaya Gazeta Nobel prize winner. “All these people have spoken very clearly to say that they are against this bloodshed. And that is very inspiring to me.”
Muratov launched dual editions of his newspaper in both Russian and Ukrainian this week and has said his paper would defy the rules of the Russian media watchdog that they only publish official government information about the war.
He believes that the war is unpopular with most Russians. “The memory of (World War II), and that people have relatives in Ukraine, and that Ukraine is a country dear to us, holds back even the most rabid supporters of the current leadership,” Muratov said. “There is no enthusiasm for this”.
Read more
VIDEO: Russian missile hits an apartment building on the outskirts of Kiev, leaving six injured and 80 evacuees
Ukrainian grandfather of 80 years tries to join the army to fight ‘for his grandchildren’
Ukrainian forces capture ‘hundreds of Russian prisoners of war’ and troops from Putin fails to take Kiev in night assault