Anti-war Russians unswayed by Putin’s guaranteed presidential victory
Over the past couple of years, a Russian national, who identified herself only with her first name Aleksandra, has participated in nearly 100 protests across Seoul denouncing Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. The 28-year-old is among a small group of Russians who take to the streets every Saturday or Sunday, brandishing pickets with slogans such as “No to war” and “Russia without Putin.”
Despite the modest turnout of about a dozen participants, these small-scale rallies are a privilege that Russians cannot enjoy in their homeland.
“In Russia, all protests are like, there are people gathering, and there are people running away from the police. If you are holding a picket, you will be detained immediately,” Aleksandra said in an interview with The Korea Times on Tuesday. In asking for anonymity for personal security, she said revealing her surname could put her family in danger.
The activist, who participated in several anti-government protests in Moscow in 2017, said that in her home country, people are not able to stage protests without fear of crackdowns by heavily armed police officers.
“There’s a negative image of protests among Russian people where they would think, ‘Why are you doing this? You’re making us all uncomfortable,’” she said. “It’s a privilege for us to hold rallies in Korea, where we can express our opinions freely and get support from the public.”
Aleksandra said that Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, which has persisted for over two years, has faded gradually from headlines in Korea and public interest about their rallies has declined.
Nevertheless, she remains steadfast in her commitment to holding weekly protests until the conflict ends.
“The polls released by the Russian government show that a majority of Russians support the war. But that’s all propaganda. I really want Koreans to know that there are a lot of Russians who oppose the aggression and the Putin regime,” she said.
Aleksandra is a member of the Feminist Anti-war Resistance, a Russia-based anti-war civic group formed a day after the invasion began on Feb. 24, 2022. The movement has dozens of informal branches in Russia and around the world, aiming to provide accurate information about the war and offer mental health support and legal help to anti-war activists.
“Feminist groups were not perceived as a big threat to the Russian authorities, so we were less affected by state repression than other political groups,” she said. “However, we are seeing an increasing number of protesting women being detained over the last few years. So most of our members in Russia are acting anonymously.”
Aleksandra has also faced threats from the Russian authorities.
In September 2022, a couple of police officers knocked on the door of her family’s house in Moscow, informing Aleksandra’s mother that her daughter had allegedly been transferring money to a terrorist group. The police left only after her mother signed a document stating that her daughter was no longer living there.
“I’m not sure if their visit was related to my past involvements with (Alexei) Navalny’s protests back in 2017 or with the protests I’ve been doing in Seoul. But my family was quite frightened,” she said.
Navalny, who was known as Putin’s most vocal opponent, died in February in a penal colony in the Arctic while serving a lengthy prison sentence and facing additional trials.
This week, spanning from Wednesday to Friday, millions of Russians are engaging in the presidential elections, where President Vladimir Putin’s victory is virtually assured. This triumph would solidify his fifth term in office until 2030, marking three decades as the Kremlin leader.
Aleksandra, who was also planning to cast her ballot, said that she remains unfazed by the anticipated election results.
“In democracies, you don’t know the election results until the votes are counted, but you understand how the elections work because the process is transparent. In contrast, under dictatorships, you already know the election outcomes, but you don’t know about the process,” she said.
On Friday, the Feminist Anti-war Resistance, in collaboration with the People’s Solidarity for Social Progress, will host a screening in Seoul of a documentary film on Navalny to commemorate his death.
The screening was specifically arranged to coincide with Russia’s presidential election to amplify opposition voices in the face of Putin’s reelection, according to the event organizers.
“After hearing the news about what happened to (Navalny), I was shocked, and I cried a lot for many days,” Aleksandra said. “But what Navalny said before his death was to not give up and never be silent. He also said that if the government decides to murder him, it means that the Putin regime has fallen to its weakest point.”
She added, “The best we can do in the memory of Navalny is to keep going. That’s what he told us.”