Russia’s Justice Ministry on Friday added the Put’ Domoi (The Way Home), a group consisting of wives, mothers and sisters of soldiers, to the list of so-called ‘foreign agents’.
Демонстрация цветов 9 мая, в День Победы, была организована женами, матерями, сестрами и детьми мобилизованных солдат, отправленных на войну в Украину. Фото из Telegram-канала «Путь домой»
By Thomas Nilsen
June 02, 2024
BARENTS OBSERVER
The movement consists of mostly wives and mothers of drafted soldiers. That said, more and more of them are becoming widows.
“After so many months of awkward threats and crap thrown at us in the media, the authorities have finally decided on their opinion about us,” the group wrote in its Telegram channel on June 1 after learning they were labeled as ‘foreign agents’.
“Now we are agents of the reptilians and enemies of the regime,” the text in the Telegram post said with irony. It added: “Insanity and fear are growing stronger.”
May 9th protest in Moscow organized by Put’ Domoi. Photo from Telegram
While the Ministry of Justice argues the movement creates a “negative image” of Russia and the Russian army, the women counter and says:
“Well, now we have entered the list of cultural representatives: actors, musicians, writers. Congratulations to us or something.” The text ends with a laughing emoji.
Put’ Domoi has on several occasions held protests calling for Putin to bring mobilized soldiers home from the war in Ukraine.
The group assures it has never received any funding from abroad, and says it doesn’t intend to stop protests.
The Telegram channel has 13,600 subscribers.
While the Ministry of Justice argues the movement creates a “negative image” of Russia and the Russian army, the women counter and says:
“Well, now we have entered the list of cultural representatives: actors, musicians, writers. Congratulations to us or something.” The text ends with a laughing emoji.
Put’ Domoi has on several occasions held protests calling for Putin to bring mobilized soldiers home from the war in Ukraine.
The group assures it has never received any funding from abroad, and says it doesn’t intend to stop protests.
The Telegram channel has 13,600 subscribers.
Half million casualties
It was in late September 2022, Vladimir Putin announced partial military mobilization. At least 300,000 young Russian men were in the following months sent to the bloody battlefields in Ukraine as part of the mobilization.
Russia maintains that the number of killed soldiers is not be made public.
British intelligence, however, estimates the total number of Russian casualties, killed and wounded, since the start of the war in February 2022 has now likely reached 500,000.
The losses increased in May to an average of over 1,200 casualties per day, the highest reported since the start of the war. There is no available way for independent media to confirm or not.
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