Moscow Seeks to Shut Down Burgeoning ‘Bring Our Boys Home’ from Ukraine Movement

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Nov. 14 – The mothers, wives and children of some Russians now fighting in Ukraine have launched a movement to organize demonstrations demanding that officials allow their relatives to return home and promising to support any political figure who will ensure that that happens and that no one is ever mobilized for more than one year of service.

            Organized first in Moscow and now spreading to 31 federal subjects most to the east of the Urals, the group has faced persecution by officials, with most Russian government agencies choosing to ban the protests it seeks to organize in the next week but a few allowing them to go forward (sibreal.org/a/v-rossii-zapreschayut-aktsii-zhen-mobilizovannyh-za-ih-vozvraschenie/32685186.html, meduza.io/feature/2023/11/16/vlasti-rossiyskih-regionov-nachali-borbu-s-zhenami-mobilizovannyh-kotorye-trebuyut-vernut-muzhey-s-voyny-ih-zayavki-na-mitingi-otklonyayut-a-domoy-k-nim-prihodit-politsiya and semnasem.org/articles/2023/11/14/my-podderzhim-togo-kto-vernet-nam-nashih-muzhchin-chto-izvestno-o-novom-dvizhenii-za-vozvrashenie-mobilizovannyh-put-domoj

            Calling themselves “The Path Home” for soldiers (t.me/PYTY_DOMOY/377), participants have released a manifesto that outlines their feelings and demands. An informal translation of that document follows:

NO PERMANENT MOBILIZATION

The individual, his rights and freedoms, are the highest values. Article 2 of the Russian Constitution.

We, the relatives and friends of the mobilized as well as military personnel and people who are not indifferent to the fate of Russia and our own fellow citizens want a full life for ALL citizens of our country! There are already many of us, and there will be more. We are not interested in rocking the boat and destabilizing the political situation. We are the Way Home, and we are determined to get our men back at any cost.

We publicly declare that we are for:

1. Complete demobilization. Civilians should not take part in hostilities.

2. Political stability and a decent life for every citizen of Russia.

3. Respect for the Constitution and human rights, including those of military personnel. Commitment to the ideas of the rule of law.

4. Eliminatoin of the legal vacuum by establishing a maximum service life in the case of partial mobilization to no ore than one year from the state of conscription.

5. Constitutionally guaranteed rights to social protest and public meetings.

6. Social justice and equality in rights and responsibilities for everyone, including those who have been mobilized.

WE ARE AGAINST:

1.Legalized slavery. Both mobilized and contract soldiers must have the right to be released from military service upon expiration of the contract or at one year from the date of conscription.

2.Ignoring our problem by the country’s leadership and its silence on these issues.

3.Arbitrariness of commanders and repressions against our military personnel.

4.Treating military personnel as disposables. They are above all people.

5.Dehumanization. There are no orcs and elves; there is propaganda and incitement to hatred. There is politics and there are ordinary people in the hands of politicians.

6.Repression against relatives and friends of those mobilized for protests expressing their views.

7.The promotion of the view that all those mobilized are in the combat zone voluntarily and on the basis of a conscious choice. The basis of their service is conscription, which by its nature is a compulsory act and the failure to appear when summoned and the unauthorized absence from units entail legal liabilities, including criminal ones.

WE DO NOT CARE:

1.Who will give us back our men.

2.WE DEMAND THE START OF THE WITHDRAWAL OF OUR MOBILIZED HUSBANDS, BROTHERS, SONS AND FATHERS AND ALL THOSE CLOSE TO US FROM THE ZONE AND THEIR RETURN HOME TO THEIR FAMILIES.

3.We do not impose political choices regarding power or attitude toward the armed conflict in Ukraine. Everyone has the right to decide for himself or herselv. But we will support the one who returns our men to us.

MILITARY SERVICEMEN AND THEIR FAMILIES - UNITE AND FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHTS!

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