On 24 and 25 February tens of thousands of Russians took part in protests around the world against Putin’s war and in support of the Ukrainian people. The white/blue/white Russian flag which signifies opposition to the war was seen alongside other anti-war symbols, from Australia to the USA; from Argentina to Vietnam.
Warsaw, Berlin, Vilnius, London, Tokyo, Paris, The Hague, Riga, New York, Yerevan, Tbilisi, Haifa, Rome, Madrid, Astana, Belgrade…it would take a long time to list the full geographical scope of the anti-war protests. And nearly everywhere these protests proved to be the biggest demonstrations made by Russians in recent years.
Across the world Russians raised their voices in opposition to the war. Dozens of commentaries, despatches and television reports demonstrated to a worldwide audience the reality: they showed what Russians really think about the war that’s been unleashed in their country’s name.
There can be no doubt that the majority of Russians stand against the war in Ukraine. They refuse to support Putin’s aggression against a sovereign state, do not accept the violation of the territorial integrity of a neighbouring country and will not allow their names to be included among those who support Vladimir Putin’s dictatorial regime.
The Anti-War Committee was one of the first to call upon our fellow citizens in cities outside Russia to come out in protest on the anniversary of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. We are grateful to each and every one of you who responded to our call. We thank all those Russian citizens and other activists who joined us at this time by coming out and publicly declaring their opposition to the war. Now we understand that we really are many in number.
Members of the Anti-War Committee of Russia:
- Sergey Aleksashenko, economist
- Evgeny Chichvarkin, entrepreneur
- Konstantin Chumakov, scientist
- Marat Gelman, gallerist
- Leonid Gozman, politician, psychologist
- Dmitry Gudkov, politician
- Sergei Guriev, economist
- Mikhail Kasyanov, former Prime Minister of Russia
- Mikhail Khodorkovsky, philanthropist, former political prisoner
- Evgeny Kiselev, journalist
- Mikhail Kokorich, entrepreneur
- Yulia Latynina, writer, journalist
- Elena Lukyanova, lawyer
- Yuri Pivovarov, historian, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences
- Anastasia Shevchenko, political activist
- Boris Zimin, entrepreneur