Russia’s wives and mothers are mobilising against Putin

On a Russian Telegram channel, Svetlana from Samara is making a public plea. She has not heard from her brother since the shelling of Makiivka on 31 December, which may have killed up to 400 Russian soldiers. Enquiries to the military registration, the city governor, the Ministry of Defence have apparently turned up nothing. ‘After all my appeals, requests, calls, I became desperate that no one was listening to me. Ordinary, simple people are not needed by anyone.’ 

Another, older woman, Valentina, posts from the same region. ‘Please help me find my son,’ she says. ‘He was in Makiivka on 31 December. Since then, there’s been no news. He is neither [registered as] alive nor dead. In the military registration and enlistment office they say “wait”. What to expect and how long to wait, to an inconsolable mother, no one answers.’ 

Both are speaking on the Telegram channel ‘The Council of Wives and Mothers’, a group formed by Samaran resident Olga Tsukanova in late September, amidst suspicions the Russian army were making her son sign a military contract against his will.