There has never been such a protest in Russia. Soldiers’ wives rebel

The first public protest of the wives of Russian soldiers taking part in the invasion of Ukraine proves that the lack of military rotation at the front is increasingly perceived as an unbearable situation not only by the soldiers themselves, but also by their relatives.

As reported in the daily intelligence update, on November 7, the wives of Russian soldiers deployed to Ukraine held what was likely the first public street protest in Moscow since February 2022, the beginning of the war. Protesters gathered at Teatralny Square and unfurled banners, demanding that their partners be included in the rotation and that the Ministry of Defense send them away from the front line.

It was emphasized that since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, reports of Russian wives and mothers who protest against the conditions of service of their loved ones appear on social media every day. But Russia’s draconian legislation has so far prevented soldiers’ relatives from joining together as an influential lobbying force, as mothers of soldiers did during the Afghan-Soviet war in the 1980s.

It added that although police dispersed the protest at Teatralny Square within minutes, it is noteworthy because indefinitely prolonged combat missions of personnel without rotation are apparently increasingly perceived as unbearable by both the soldiers themselves and their relatives.