Russian law enforcement officers carry a man during a rally.
Moscow:
Women in Russia make up a large proportion of those detained in protest of President Vladimir Putin’s mobilization for war in Ukraine, as many Russian men fear they may be sent to the frontline if they demonstrate. .
Court documents also showed that more women were charged in the early weeks of the conflict in relation to anti-war protests in Moscow in February and March than anti-Putin protests in previous years.
On the evening of September 24, 19-year-old Lisa was among the female protesters who went to central Moscow. Before joining the crowd, a police officer in body armor grabbed her by the hand and threw her into a van. He spent a week in custody.
Three days ago Putin announced a partial mobilization of reservists to fight in Ukraine, forcing tens of thousands of Russian men to flee the often winding routes abroad.
“When the war started, I thought my future was not happening anymore,” said Lisa, who asked to use only her first name for fear of repercussions. “But I also began to feel guilty for thinking about my future at a time when people in Ukraine felt so much more fear every day.”
Lisa showed Reuters documents and photographs related to her detention.
Russian officials say the protesters have been detained because unrestricted rallies are illegal under Russian law, which also forbids any activity believed to defame the armed forces.
According to data from OVD-Info, a Russian protest tracking group, 51% of the 1,383 people arrested in anti-mobilization protests on September 21 were women and 71% of the 848 people detained on September 24 There were women.
The group, which described the protests as the largest in a series of protests on September 21 and 24, said that the increasing share of women detained on September 24 came as some men were expected to be drafted if arrested. There was fear
draft papers
A Russian male journalist covering the demonstrations and two male demonstrators told Reuters they had received papers calling them to the military registration office after being detained.
One of them, 30-year-old Vladislav Staff, a historian with no military experience, said he and a dozen others who were kept in the same police van were handed draft papers after they were arrested on September 21. He was released from detention. A week later and fled to Russia.
The staff now in Montenegro said, “It felt too dangerous to stay.” He showed Reuters a copy of his draft document.
OVD-Info said male protesters were drawn into at least 17 police departments on 21 September and at least 16 departments on 24 September.
Reuters is yet to respond to emailed questions about OVD-Info’s data and staff account, which were sent on Thursday to the Russian Interior Ministry and its Moscow department.
A Reuters analysis of court documents showed that women protesting in the early weeks of the war in February and March made at least 30% of the charges, up from at least 11% of protests in 2021 and those in 2019 protests. were at least 6%.
Lisa protested for the first time in February with chants of “not to war.”
The proportion of women was likely to be higher in all three years as Reuters was able to determine gender in about 80% of cases only from the surnames of the protesters. Typical Russian surnames have different endings for women and men. Reuters analyzed cases with the most common charges used against protesters.
fear of recruitment
Ella Rossmann, a researcher at University College London’s School of Slavonic and East European Studies, attributed the increase in women’s participation in the protests to fears of some men and the growing Russian feminist movement.
Rossman, who is mapping Russian feminist activism, counted 45 Russian feminist groups in 2021, up from about 30 in 2019.
OVD-Info lawyer Daria Korolenko said female protesters in Russia are particularly vulnerable to the threat of sexual violence. The group documented nearly 200 cases of women being threatened with sexual violence, being denied food or sleep, or subjected to other abuse during protests between September 21 and 26.
Reuters has yet to respond to emailed questions about data on abuse of women sent to the Russian Interior Ministry and its Moscow department on Thursday.
Elizaveta, 27, who asked to be identified only by her first name, said she received a 12-day prison sentence after protesting in February. She spent those nine days at a police station where she slept on the bare floor in a dark cell. There was no hot water and only friends used to bring food. He showed Reuters documents and photographs related to his detention.
Reuters has yet to respond to an emailed request for comment, which was sent on Thursday to the Russian Interior Ministry and its Moscow department.
Elizaveta protested again on 22 September. Most of the women were with him that day, she said.
Women have not only protested the war on the streets.
Shortly after the conflict began, Rossman formed a movement with other activists – the Feminist Anti-War Resistance. Its members post about the war on social media and distribute a newspaper in Russia, saying they also write anti-war slogans on ruble banknotes and price tags in stores.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)