Russians will Continue to Protest Putin’s War Because This is ‘a Matter of Life and Death’ for Them, OVD-Info Activist Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Mar. 6 – Despite the barbarous and illegal repression the police are visiting upon those who object to the war, Tatyana Sporysheva says, there is little chance that Russians will end their protests because “people recognize the level of danger” and for them, the war is “the last straw.”

            Even those who remain silent, the OVD-Info activist in Rostov says, “understand that they may lose everything. In such a country, there is no future because our country will simply be cut off from the rest of the world.” “I doubt,” Sporysheva continues, “that any amount of pressure will have an impact on them: for people, this is a question of life and death” (kavkazr.com/a/na-ulitsy-vyshli-te-kto-nikogda-ne-protestoval-protesty-protiv-voyny/31739912.html).

            According to the activist, the police so far have not been particularly brutal although they have violated the law and constitution repeatedly by their actions. But despite that, their behavior may have negative consequences for the regime because most of those protesting the war have never taken part in demonstrations and don’t know how brutal the normal can be.

            For such neophytes, the experience of police brutality is something new and infuriating; and it is thus likely to cause them to continue to demonstrate rather than intimidate them into now going into the streets or protesting online. She adds that Russians today are also aware that Ukraine has far more freedom than they do, making the Kremlin’s policies even more wrong.