{"id":206552,"date":"2022-03-07T12:01:22","date_gmt":"2022-03-07T12:01:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=206552"},"modified":"2022-03-07T05:13:29","modified_gmt":"2022-03-07T05:13:29","slug":"despite-government-crackdown-russians-continue-to-protest-the-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2022\/03\/despite-government-crackdown-russians-continue-to-protest-the-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Despite Government Crackdown, Russians Continue to Protest the War"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A press survey by CPNN<\/em><\/p>\n

6 Mar 2022 – <\/em>CPNN has published several articles recently about Russian opposition to the war, including open letters from scientists<\/a>, from cultural figures<\/a>, and from the \u201cCongress of Intelligentsia<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Opposition continues to grow despite draconian, even ridiculous, measures by the Russian government to stifle protest. Protesters risked arrest by massing in public in St. Petersburg, as shown the the photos below from Deutsche Welle<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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As of February 26, the most comprehensive account of the antiwar movement and government crackdown comes from Moscow Times<\/a> as follows<\/p>\n

Russia\u2019s Anti-War Lobby Goes Online<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The head of Russia\u2019s state-run RT television is in no doubt. If fellow citizens oppose President Vladimir Putin\u2019s action in Ukraine then they are no longer Russians.<\/p>\n

Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of the English language international news network, is never one to mince her words and is used to making cutting remarks on Twitter in defense of Putin who she refers to simply as \u201cleader.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you are ashamed of being Russian now, don\u2019t worry, you are not Russian,\u201d was her summation of the anti-war movement at home.<\/p>\n

Several thousand Russians demonstrated against the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but the police reaction was the usual one when it comes to Kremlin critics: hundreds of arrests.<\/p>\n

So the anti-war movement has moved online, where it is beginning to make itself heard and to garner support, some of it high-profile.<\/p>\n

Ukrainian flags adorn profile pictures and teary-eyed emojis are scattered liberally among the online statements. The hashtag #NoToTheWar was trending on Twitter on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Since early Thursday, when the invasion of Ukraine began, various Russian celebrities, journalists and bloggers have expressed their horror and helplessness, pleading for an immediate end to the war.<\/p>\n

The popular video blogger and documentary filmmaker Yuri Dud saw one of his online posts get a million \u201clikes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI write these words for a reason. When my children grow up and discover this moment in history\u2026 and ask me \u2018Dad, what did you do?\u2019, I want to have written proof that I did not choose this regime and did not support its imperialist rage,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

\u2018This must be stopped!\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Elena Chernenko, a journalist with the Kommersant daily, said she was excluded from the pool of journalists covering Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov because she started an anti-war petition among her colleagues.<\/p>\n

An open letter from the arts and cultural fields on Saturday had the support of more than 2,000 actors, directors and other creative figures.<\/p>\n

They dismissed Putin\u2019s argument that the invasion is a \u201cpeacekeeping\u201d operation to save Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine.<\/p>\n

\u201cForcing peace through the use of force is absurd,\u201d the letter said.<\/p>\n

Just as many doctors, nurses and paramedics have signed their own online missive.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo matter how you seek to justify the use of lethal weapons, they are still lethal,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n

And an anti-war petition on the change.org website has gathered more than 750,000 signatures in two days.<\/p>\n

Among the celebrities making their voices heard, including regulars on loyal public television, is popular singer Valery Meladze.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis must be stopped!\u201d was his message on Instagram on the first day of the invasion.<\/p>\n

\u2018Shame added to suffering\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Dmitry Muratov, the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and editor-in-chief of the opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta, expressed his shame in an online video.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are suffering,\u201d said Muratov. \u201cOur country, on the orders of President Putin, has started a war against Ukraine. And nobody can stop it. Therefore, to our suffering is added shame.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a highly symbolic move, the founders of the \u201cImmortal Regiment,\u201d an organization dear to the Kremlin because it is responsible for preserving the memory of the dead of World War II, called on the Putin \u201cto cease fire,\u201d describing the use of force as \u201cinhuman.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moscow\u2019s Garage museum of contemporary art, founded by Kremlin-linked oligarch and Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich, announced it would close on Saturday, refusing to \u201cmaintain the illusion of normality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also two communist MPs who voted for the recognition of the independence of pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, have denounced the invasion of Russia\u2019s neighbor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI voted for peace, not for war. I voted for Russia to be a shield [for the separatists]\u2026 not for Kyiv to be bombed,\u201d wrote MP Mikhail Matveyev.<\/p>\n

Addressing the celebrities and \u201cthousands and thousands\u201d of anonymous Russians denouncing the invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked them and asked them to stop those who \u201clie to the whole world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Putin has described Zelensky and his government as \u201cterrorists\u201d and \u201ca gang of drug addicts and neo-Nazis,\u201d urging the country\u2019s military to topple him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In addition to the article from Moscow Times, here is information from other media sources:<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n