24 February 2023 will mark one year since Putin’s army launched its all-out attack on Ukraine. The Anti-War Committee calls on all Russian citizens who are abroad to join protests on that day outside Russian embassies, consulates, trade representations or other places agreed in advance.
Putin is waging his criminal war against Ukraine in the name of the Russian state. From the moment it began the Kremlin’s propaganda machine has been trying to convince the world and its own people that this war of aggression is supported by the majority of the country’s population.
The reality is that anti-war protests in Russia are either impossible or highly dangerous. Such an action now risks up to life in prison. But since the start of the war around one million people who are against Putin’s policy have left Russia. Being outside the country, these million people are beyond the reach of Putin’s repressive apparatus. But as citizens in the civilised world try to understand what relations with Russia and with Russians will be like in the future, it is vital that they hear the voice of these people.
24 February should become a day of protest against Putin’s war and a day of solidarity with the Ukrainian people. Russians abroad should clearly and unambiguously declare their anti-war position, and their refusal to accept this brutal and vile aggression. We must demonstrate that this is a war that was unleashed by Putin and his regime, but not by the Russian people.
The Anti-War Committee is prepared to offer legal, information and organisational support to any Russian citizen or activist group who support our anti-war position and wish to take part in the protests on 24 February.
Contact us on the following: e‑mail, [email protected]; Telegram @inwantedlist (Anastasia Shevchenko), website https://theyearofterror.com.
Members of The Russian Anti-War Committee
- Sergey Aleksashenko, economist
- Evgeny Chichvarkin, entrepreneur
- Konstantin Chumakov, scientist
- Marat Gelman, gallerist
- Leonid Gozman, politician, psychologist
- Dmitry Gudkov, politician
- Garry Kasparov, politician, 13th world chess champion
- 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
- Victor Shenderovich, writer
- Boris Zimin, entrepreneur