'I voted for peace, not a war': Russian politicians break ranks with Kremlin to condemn Ukraine invasion
Ukraine in fierce fight against advancing Russian forces
The United Nations said more than 150,000 Ukrainians had fled for Poland, Moldova and other neighboring countries and warned the number could grow to 4 million if fighting escalates.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is proving so unpopular that several Russian MPs are withdrawing their support for the Kremlin.
The State Duma, the lower house of Russian parliament, last week voted to recognise the independence of eastern Ukraine’s separatist regions. President Vladimir Putin signed the motion into law on Monday.
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Two days later, Russia’s upper house of parliament gave the green light to sending Russian troops “abroad”. However, it was not clear until Thursday morning that Putin had ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
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Mikhail Matveyev, a member of the State Duma, called on the Kremlin on Saturday to stop the invasion.
“By voting to recognise the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, I voted for peace, not a war. For Russia to become a shield for the Donbas, not for bombing Kyiv,” he said.
Another MP, Communist Oleg Smolin, said on Friday he was “shocked” by the invasion and was sorry for the loss of life.
Their statements came amid a myriad of anti-war petitions from Russian teachers, scientists and doctors.
A famed Soviet photographer and author called on Putin and his entourage to retire in a video clip posted on Novaya Gazeta’s website.
“Why don’t you all have some rest? You did such a great job. You all are pension age. It’s time to retire,” said Kyiv-born 83-year-old Yuri Rost.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine has proven unpopular with some at home, including several MPs.
Even some of the most Kremlin-friendly pundits began to publicly question the rationale behind Moscow unleashing a war on a sovereign nation.
Andrey Kortunov, director of the Russian International Affairs Council that advises the foreign ministry, told the BBC on Saturday he had not advised Russians officials to launch an invasion and that many in the Russian government were shocked at the decision.
“I would say that many of us in the foreign office were surprised and I would say shocked and I would even say devastated to see what is happening,” he said.
“This is an important red line that was crossed by the Russian leadership and the repercussions are likely to be very significant.”
Russia’s foreign ministry sought to punish some of the country’s most respected journalists for speaking out against the invasion.
Elena Chernenko, a veteran foreign affairs reporter for the Kommersant newspaper who often travelled with Sergey Lavrov, the foreign minister, said on Friday she was ejected from his pool for “unprofessionalism”.
Condemnation of the war was spreading across Russian society on Saturday. Architects, doctors and psychiatrists all published their anti-war petitions to add to earlier appeals by representatives of other professions.
Sporadic protests were reported in several Siberian cities, while in Moscow, police sealed off a central square, fearing unrest.
In St Petersburg, activists came to the city’s Piskaryovskoye cemetery, the resting place for the victims of the Siege of Leningrad, where they donned masks depicting skulls and held placards saying: “There are no patriots among the dead.”
Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow’s major contemporary art foundation, said it would halt work on “all exhibitions until the human and political tragedy that is unfolding in Ukraine has ceased”.
“We cannot support the illusion of normality when such events are taking place,” the museum said in a statement.
SCREENGRAB
Police officers detain a woman in St Petersburg as Russians protested against their country's invasion of Ukraine.
The museum was founded in 2008 by Dasha Zhukova and her then husband Roman Abramovich. On its Facebook page, the museum posted a black square, a symbol of Russia’s burgeoning anti-war movement.
In Moscow and London, several staff at the Russian state-funded news outlet RT reportedly resigned in response to the invasion.
The Moscow Art Theatre, Russia’s legendary drama theatre, has redone the logo on its Facebook page, adding a dove with a peace branch to the seagull from Anton Chekhov’s eponymous play.
For the third consecutive day, Russian state media appeared on Saturday to avoid calling the invasion a “war” and described it as a “special operation in the Donbas”. Their coverage focused on incremental gains made by separatist fighters in the region of eastern Ukraine, propped up by Russian forces.
Russian authorities who on Friday threatened to go after independent media quoting “unofficial” sources in their coverage moved to ban the word “war.”
Russia’s communications watchdog asked 10 media outlets to delete articles containing reports of civilian deaths and air strikes on Ukrainian cities, which according to the Kremlin do “not correspond to reality”.
The watchdog also took issue with the media calling Russia’s military operation “an assault, an invasion or a declaration of war”.
The media outlets that refuse to comply would have their websites blocked and face hefty fines.
Russian officials later on Saturday also appeared to make good on their threats to limit access to social media as Facebook and Twitter were taking longer than usual to load.
The Telegraph
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