Photo taken from Telegram channel "Видимый протест"
The 9th of May
125 people were arrested in Russia for anti-war protests on the day which commemorates the Victory in the Second World War.
- During the “Immortal Regiment” event FAWR female activist stood with the poster saying: “They didn’t want Ukraine to be involved in the Patriotic War against Russia”.
- In Saint-Petersburg’s Victory Park FAWR (Feminist Anti-War Resistance) held anti-war posters: “Misery Day ”, “Is the Siege of Mariupol worse than the Siege of Leningrad”.
- On the 9th of May “Party of the Dead” held a “Mortilization” protest on a local cemetry.
Photo taken from Telegram channel "Партия мертвых"- Man carrying “Stop War in Ukraine” poster arrested during the “Immortal Regiment” in Moscow. The man told an “OVD-Info” lawyer that he was beaten by officers at the police station and was charged with “discrediting the Russian Army”, “violating rules of peaceful protest” and “disobeying police officers” .
- Kazan court decides to impose a fine (its amount is equivalent to 460 USD) to a local for holding a “No War. Stop War (in English)” poster during a one-man piquet.
- FAWR activists (Female Anti-War Resistance) glued 250 stickers during the “Immortal Regiment” event in Moscow. Two signs saying “Putin has desecrated May, 9” were glued to a police car and an officer.
Some other protests were organised during this week
- People continue to glue anti-war signs and posters and write anti-war public messages: “Our Enemy is in the Kremlin, not in Ukraine”, “For 77 years we were constantly repeated “No War”, and for that you can be sentenced for 15 years now”, “Z + Z = ”, “TV mode -off, brain mode-on”, “FrenZZZy”, “TeleVViZhion tells you lies”, “Putin is a fascist” etc.
- Memorial crosses with photographs of those killed in Ukraine being distributed in Ulyanovsk.
Photo taken from Telegram channel "Видимый протест" - Stencil graffiti with a photograph of Putin and the caption “murderer” appear all-over Omsk, Russia.
Photo taken from Telegram channel "Видимый протест" - In order not to be charged for “discreding the Russian Army” people spread photos of their pets and captions saying “PEACE lost. He was kind and fun and didn’t cross our neighbours’ border. He gave comfort and hope. We need our PEACE back” .
- New signs are appearing in the subway and suburban trains: “Seats for disabled recruits, who’ve returned from Ukraine, and for mothers of Zhukov’s solders”.
Photo taken from Telegram channel "Видимый протест" - Anti-war slogans on paper bills are still popular: (https://t.me/nowarmetro/2276, https://t.me/nowarmetro/2330, https://t.me/nowarmetro/2473, https://t.me/femagainstwar/2626).
- Poster saying “They believed this would never happen again” was hung on a stele near the Kashtanovaya Veteran walkway in Zelenograd.
- Campaign citing Alexei Navalny: “For the evil to win we just need idleness of kind people” appeared in Chelyabinsk.
- A former police officer was detained on Sakhalin for cutting off a banner with the Z symbol. The man did so because he was against Russia's actions in Ukraine. He was taken to the police station, from which he resigned 20 years ago.
- In Mytishchi, a memorial to the hero of the Soviet Union Raspopova Nina Maximovna was covered with paper doves “World Peace”.
- On May 15, on the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Repression in Ukraine, Memorial volunteers laid yellow and blue flowers with yellow, blue and green (anti-war) ribbons and the poem by Mykola Zerov (Ukrainian Renaissance poet) “On Holy Thursday”.
The continuation of pressure and state-imposed sanctions on anti-war activists:
- The number of defendants in the large "anti-war" criminal case, in which OVD-Info unites all anti-war criminal cases, has reached 130.
- The audience and director of an anti-fascist performance, “The Chalk Cross,” based on Brecht’s “Fear and Misery of the Third Reich” were detained in Moscow during the play. The detainees were then brought to the Basmanny police department.
- The audience and director of an anti-fascist performance, “The Chalk Cross,” based on Brecht’s “Fear and Misery of the Third Reich” were detained in Moscow during the play. The detainees were then brought to the Basmanny police department.
- Four reports were drawn up on Ilya Yashin, a municipal deputy of Krasnoselsky district. All of these reports state that the deputy engaged in “discrediting the Russian armed forces.
- A criminal case was brought against a member of the “Vesna” (“spring”) movement for establishing a non-profit organization that infringes on the identity and rights of citizens. Four representatives of the movement were subject to searches. Vesna is a democratic youth movement which since the beginning of the war had sharply opposed military action and has called for anti-war protests.
- In Ivanovo, searches were conducted in the homes of four witnesses in a vandalism case initiated in late March against activist Sergei Veselov from the town of Shuya. He painted the words "No to War" on the city administration building.
From the beginning of the war Russian military enlistment offices are being arsoned:
- February 28th - Lukhovitsy, Moscow Oblast
- March 3rd - Voronezh
- March 11th - Beryozovsky, Sverdlovsk Oblast
- March 19th - Shuya, Ivanovo Oblast
- April 18th - Zubova Polyana, Republic of Mordovia
- May 4th - Nizhnevartovsk, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug
- May 9th - Cherepovets, Vologda Oblast
- May 13th - Omsk
The review was prepared by Memorial volunteers on the basis of the the following sources: ОВД-инфо, Холод, Видимый протест and others.
