Protests break out in the streets of Russia
Russia in February of 2022 launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a decision which became heavily criticized by the public, from even within Russia. Protests on Russian streets have broken out since then in retaliation to the invasion. The conflict between Ukraine and Russia has been ongoing since around 2014, which has continued into several small skirmishes and confrontations on the border of the two countries. Small skirmishes on the border of Ukraine led to a full-scale invasion and mass evacuation of Ukrainian cities. The United States military has since mobilized to countries neighboring Ukraine, such as Poland, as well as several other NATO countries near Ukraine in order to prevent any such invasion.
Countries within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have avoided directly interfering in the war as it would lead indefinitely to all-out warfare with Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin. Since the beginning of the invasion, countries within NATO have been individually sending vast amounts of munitions and supplies to Ukraine in order to aid them in the war.
Despite Putin’s ideology against Ukraine, the people of Russia express their thoughts on the invasion. Olga Mikheeva, a Russian protester, said, “I am outraged. I haven’t slept for three nights, and I think we must now declare very loudly that we don’t want to be killed and don’t want Ukraine to be killed”. By protesting, the people of Russia put themselves at a greater personal risk, as Putin’s government is opposed to different views on the war. Mass censorship of the press has been implemented as massive protests in Russia break out protesting against the war on Ukraine. Soldiers fighting the war against Ukraine have been noted to be oblivious as to who they were fighting against.
Dmitri Alperovitch, former Chief Technology Officer of Crowd Strike has spoken to PBS news about the effect of protests within Russia as he believes that the protests will likely not sway Putin’s decision. Considering Putin’s decision to invade, “I don’t think it’s likely, because they’re able to suppress them. The security forces are still squarely on his side,” Alperovitch said. However, Alperovitch does believe that there is a possibility of a stop to the war, considering even long-time supporters of Putin have come out against the war on Ukraine.
