“We have no support ,” the wife of one mobilized soldier told The Moscow Times, adding that she felt “abandoned” because so few people seem to talk about the problems drafted troops face. Given Russia’s unrelenting wartime crackdown on dissent, relatives say the only way they can try to pressure the government to end mobilization is by sending official requests to the authorities and staging symbolic protests where they lay flowers at the monuments of fallen soldiers. Leading these calls is Put’ Domoi (Way Home), a grassroots group of mostly wives and mothers of mobilized soldiers. Seventeen months after President Vladimir Putin announced a “partial” mobilization, some are calling for troops to return home. In Russia, no one has been more impacted by the war than the men sent to fight on the front line in Ukraine, as well as the families of these soldiers, who face the daily possibility that their loved ones may never return home.įor many relatives of the 300,000 reservists drafted in September 2022, the war is a bitter experience far detached from the sanitized depictions of the conflict on state television. While many people now avoid talking about the war altogether, for those whom it has directly impacted, such as the families of mobilized soldiers, attempts by some to block out the conflict have led to resentment and deepened societal divisions.Īnd despite the detrimental impacts Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine has had on Russia - from the thousands of soldiers killed and wounded on the battlefield to an economy battered by Western sanctions - public opinion surveys suggest that most Russians still support what the Kremlin calls a “special military operation.” “The idea of 'let me live my life and leave me alone' resonates with many people who chose to stay in the country and are simply waiting things out,” he told The Moscow Times, requesting anonymity to speak candidly.
“The average Russian is just waiting for this to end,” was how one Moscow resident described prevailing sentiments about the war. MOSCOW - For most Russians, their country’s two-year war with Ukraine has long faded into the background of everyday life.