Wives of mobilised soldiers protest Putin, demand return of husbands

A group of Russian women harshly criticised Russian President Vladimir Putin for concealing information about the front line of the war in Ukraine in order to secure his re-election next year and called on him to bring their husbands home.

A letter posted on the Telegram channel run by the group called Way Home, said, “We will only retreat when our men are safe at home (FOREVER, we are not interested in rotation).”

Several demonstrations that the women, including Way Home, wanted to organise were not approved by the authorities, partly due to the COVID-19 situation in Russia. How many women are participating in the protest is unknown.

“We remember that the president promised that reservists would not be drafted and that the duties of special military operations would be performed by professional volunteers,” the Telegram post said.

Instead, their men have now been deployed for 15 months, and many have already fallen, they continued.

“The mobilisation has proven to be a terrible mistake,” they wrote, warning that no one is immune to another partial mobilisation in 2024.

In the autumn of 2022, Putin declared a partial mobilisation contrary to his original promise not to, following serious military setbacks.