«Defending the homeland? I don’t care about this homeland! I want my husband back, with his legs and arms intact!” Maria Andrejeva is talking to herself angrily, she turns now to one woman, then to another, her white headscarf has slipped over her shoulders. ‘My husband has helped the country enough!’
The woman in her mid-thirties has come to the presidential staff in Moscow, where the Russians can sign so that Vladimir Putin can be registered as a presidential candidate for the vote in March. His re-election has already been determined, but signatures would have to be collected for each candidate. That is the law, that is what the state wants to convey to its people.
How he once said that so-called ‘partially mobilized’ people would come home after six months of service at the front in Ukraine at the latest. The people accepted it, bought thermal underwear for the men, fathers, brothers, bought bulletproof vests, sent woolen socks to the front, candles for the trenches, food. It accepts almost everything.
Others would have to go to war
Maria Andreyeva considered it an “honor” that her husband went to war – even though she describes it in Putin’s words as “special military operations” – to “defend the homeland”. But to this day she still doesn’t know who the trained masseur should defend her against. The ‘honor’ is now over; she wants peace, with her returned husband by her side. After all, others can wage war, contract soldiers and volunteers, but not your loved one.
Putin has not been home to Moscow since October 2022, two weeks earlier, when he announced his “partial mobilization.” Since September 2023, Maria Andrejeva has been “fighting for justice” while other women have been mobilized, as she says. On the Telegram channel ‘The Way Home’, with almost 40,000 subscribers, they post their stories, take to the streets with posters demanding the return of the men and lay flowers at the monuments in their cities every Saturday.
There is Antonina, who wants to take her tank driver husband home because of his stomach ulcers. Paulina, the twenty-year-old with a small child, who wants her IT husband back with her and says: “Every day could be his last.” And there is Masha, who got her husband back in a zinc coffin and now asks angrily: “Why is there no outrage from those who have lost their loved ones forever?”
Almost none of them fundamentally question the war – whether out of caution about the repressive laws or out of conviction – just as almost none of them question the regime. They just want it not to affect them and their husbands. But sometimes there is also a hint of doubt: ‘We were wrong to believe that politics was not our business. But then politics came to us,” says someone who did not want to be named. They are slowly realizing that their rights do not apply in Russia.
Self-dramatization instead of real help
But parliamentarians, ministers and even the Kremlin are leaving the women behind. Only the system opposition Boris Nadezhdin, who is not yet registered as a presidential candidate, recently met the women at a loft in Moscow. However, the man was more concerned with his self-presentation as a ‘patriot and opponent of the war’ than with the concerns of the few women who came.
But at least: the state let them have their way. For the propagandists, women are ‘enemies’, ‘traitors’ and ‘provocateurs’, created and paid for by the Western secret services. It is the usual smear campaign for anyone who criticizes the regime in any way.
Putin does not answer any of their questions, preferring to drink tea with selected women of those who died in his residence, explaining to them that their husbands are “heroes” who did not lose their lives “senselessly.” At his press conference in December, Putin said there would be no “second wave of mobilization” and gave no prospect of the “first wave.” Almost in the same breath, the Russian president declared the year 2024 the “Year of the Family”.
To the rebellious women of those mobilized, this sounds like ridicule. “They don’t care about us, we don’t exist for them, they stole the lives of us and our men,” says one of them. Maria Andreeva scolds: “Mr. President, are you not ashamed? You have lost your dignity. Do you want to embarrass yourself even more?” Her caution weakens, her radicalism increases with each of her performances.
The authorities have long become aware of the rebellious people. Their flower arrangements are filmed by police officers from the so-called ‘Centrum E’, a unit for combating extremism that often targets opposition members. The domestic secret service FSB has arrested a number of them for questioning; the women report that their men are being put under pressure by the commanders at the front.
The dissatisfaction of the family members is an embarrassment to the state. They are Putin’s most important voters, and most of them still support Putin’s decision to go to war. These are people who for years have submitted almost unconditionally to the Kremlin’s slogan: “We take care of your well-being and you stay out of politics.” Now the state has nothing to offer these women. This makes their protest unpredictable and a risk so close to the “elections”. (aargauerzeitung.ch)
Soource :Watson
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
