In Western democracies, signs of support for Ukraine invaded by Russia flourish at the foot of embassies and in major squares. “Stop this madness, save your life, no more lies”, said for example a sign brandished this afternoon in front of the Russian embassy in Berlin, Germany. In the same spirit, a large gathering took place on the Place de la République, in the heart of Paris, this Thursday evening, or in Budapest (Hungary).
With the assailant, such demonstrations are unsurprisingly much more difficult to carry out. According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), several dozen people nevertheless braved the danger and demonstrated against the invasion in Moscow, near Pushkin Square, and in Saint Petersburg, shouting “No to war! “. They were arrested. The reason: a ban on assembly decreed by the authorities linked to this conflict, of course, but also… due to Covid-19 pandemic restrictions. However, other spontaneous gatherings would still take place in the two cities, despite the risks involved. The NGO OVD-infos reported, this Thursday evening, nearly 1400 arrests in 51 cities of the country.
In truth, there is no need for the authorities to greatly justify the reasons for arrest, which are sometimes preventive. Opposition activist Marina Litvinovich claims to have been arrested on leaving her home on Thursday, she told the agency. Reutersafter having simply shared a call for mobilization on the Telegram network.
Navalny speaks since his trial
Only a handful of “dissident” voices manage to speak clearly in Russia. “The war in Ukraine is Russia’s shame,” relayed Sofya Rusova, co-president of the Russian Union of Journalists from Moscow. We do not know the fate of his approach, widely praised on Twitter.
“I am against this war. I think it is being waged to conceal the theft of Russian citizens and divert their attention from the problems that exist inside the country, from the deterioration of the economy”, also expressed the famous opponent Alexei Navalny, during a hearing of a new trial against him, reported the opposition channel Dojd. The man is already in prison anyway.
The editor of the opposition gazette Novaya Gazeta, Dmitry Muratov, also condemned the Russian invasion in Ukraine, on YouTube. “We do not recognize Ukraine as an enemy, and the Ukrainian language as the language of an enemy. And we will never admit it.” His newspaper has lived for more than twenty years under very strong pressure from the Russian authorities. Several of its journalists, denouncing the obstacles to human rights or the war in Chechnya, have already been assassinated, like Anna Politkovskaïa, shot dead in 2006.
In line with these notorious opponents, the chess player Gary Kasparov, who no longer lives in Russia, also expressed his indignation and called on Twitter Westerners to react militarily and economically against his native country. Finally, note the courageous message of sportsman Fedor Smolov, member of the national football team and player of the Dynamo Moscow club, using the slogan “No to war” in the same way, on an Instagram post accompanied by an all-black photo.
It is difficult to say whether, on the whole, the population strongly supports or not the actions launched by Vladimir Putin. A poll released Wednesday by the American news channel CNN nevertheless estimated that one out of two Russians supports a military intervention in order “to prevent Kiev from joining NATO”. Stack the argument-threat brandished by Vladimir Putin in his muscular intervention at the beginning of the week. Another poll, this time from the Russian side, of the Levada center, asserts that six out of ten Russians believe that the conflict is primarily caused by the attitude of the Americans and NATO. Still, only 45% of them were in favor of recognizing the separatist states, at the origin of the invasion which began on Thursday.