Russia’s Pro-War Volunteers Say ‘Nobody Wants to Help the Army Anymore’

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Aug. 26 – When Putin launched his expanded war in Ukraine in February 2022, many Russians volunteered to help Russian forces there by sending money and supplies. But with each passing month, their number and the amount they have sent has declined as Russians weary of the war and are ever less sure their own actions are useful or appropriate.

            Valentina Matrenina, a journalist with The Insider, reached those conclusions after talking with those who volunteered earlier but have cut back or stopped entirely. The behavior of the latter, she says, is evidence of both war weariness and even opposition to Putin’s conflict (theins.ru/confession/283938).

            She reports that the decline in volunteer activity became “especially notable” earlier this year when “talk about a truce” began. “Trump came alone and started humiliating Zelensky while praising Putin; and from that moment one, both fundraising and volunteer activity in Russai fell sharply.”

            Donations and activity have fallen precipitously, Matrenina continues, something especially serious in the Russian case given that Moscow has relied on volunteer work to provide its soldiers with clothing and a variety of other goods. The government isn’t making up the gap and that is sending morale at the front down as well.

            Other factors are leading to the decline in volunteer activity in support of the Russian military. One is that there are increasing reports that money collected for the soldiers isn’t being used as intentioned. One Bryansk activist who collected 100,000 rubles (1,000 US dollars) says that instead of being used for uniforms, the soldiers “blew it all on prostitutes the same day.”

            It is unlikely he will be collecting more.

            But another is a problem of the Putin regime’s own making. As talk about peace has dragged on and ever more Russians have decided that there isn’t going to be a settlement anytime soon, they have also decided that they have done enough and aren’t prepared to continue to sacrifice for the soldiers who are likely to be fighting long into the future.

            And yet another problem, also of the Kremlin’s policies, is that Russian media are giving less and less coverage to the war and that is leading ever more Russians to ignore what is going on, something that has led to a drying up of the pool of those willing to send more aid to the army. They feel they have done enough, Matrenina says.