‘This is not our war’: Young Russians are angry at Putin

“Everyone is tired of hate, tired of sanctions, tired of our president. We empathize with Ukrainians”

Vera is 28 years old and living in Moscow. She’s lived in Russia her whole life, and was born near the border to Ukraine. Until two days ago, she was trying for a baby. “My husband and I have been trying for several months. Every month, I’m disappointed when it doesn’t happen. But, when I learned two days ago it didn’t work again… I was relieved.”

Yesterday, hundreds of fearless Russians took to the streets to protest against the invasion of Ukraine. Their main position is this: Ukraine is not Russia’s war, it’s Putin’s. Protestors were dragged screaming into police vans, with some arrested “as soon as they tried to unfurl any kind of banner”, according to one journalist on the scene. And sometimes Russian authorities cut out the middle man altogether, allegedly arresting known activists as soon as they stepped out of their doors.

If part of you thought Russians were backing the invasion, you’d be wrong. “My Instagram is flooded with posts that are praying for this to stop,” Vera says. “Chat rooms in messengers that I’m in are filled with concerned people. All conversations with my friends are about how horrible it is, and if there are people who have opposite opinions, they are not talking about that publicly.

“I almost didn’t go to work today - I can’t think,” she says. “People in my office are just devastated. We talked for over an hour about it, and in the cafeteria, neighbouring tables were also talking about war and reassuring each other. I’m constantly checking the news.”

The reason Vera hasn’t protested, though she supports it, is because she’s too scared. Economics student, Ivan, protested yesterday on his own, in what’s known as a “solo picket” (protesting is all but illegal in Russia, the only way you can do it without guaranteed arrest is on your own) and was arrested anyway.

“I haven’t slept in 45 hours,” he says. “I can’t stand the fact that people are dying.” Ivan turned up outside the Foreign Ministry in Moscow at 10am with a sign that read “Today at 4am without declaring war…”, a reference to when Russian leader Viacheslav Molotov announced that Nazi Germany had invaded Russia in 1941. “Some people were kind and supportive and some were outright hostile.”

Ivan was arrested 30 minutes into his picket after police said they’d like to “have a talk with [him]” then held in police custody for hours. They arrested him under the pretence that he was not protesting alone, because someone he had never met before turned up to protest in the same area as him. This was one hour after he got there, when he was already detained.

Alyona, who is 24 years old and a news correspondent, says everyone she knows is equally angry. “When I woke up and looked at my phone, the first thing I saw was a message from my mate saying ‘f**ck, this is the worst thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life.’

“People are still in shock, and some of them will stay that way for the entire time. I’ve seen that people have withdrawn extraordinary amounts of money, that’s the main thing that’s felt different. But I don’t know a single person who supports [the invasion] and frankly, I don’t want to know anyone like that.”

If you’re Russian, your situation is only worsened by the pain of knowing people in Ukraine. Nikolay, who is 20 and from St Petersburg, speaks to Ukrainian friends online and can feel their fear even through the messages. “Yesterday we were talking like nothing, and today they have rockets galore, and I am just observing it. Their country is a warzone.”

Nikolay mentions potential conscription to the Russian military, saying he would feel “sickened” to have to hurt Ukrainian citizens. “They are, despite everything else, our brother nation.” But he also worries about the impact on his country of potential US and NATO retaliation. One thing’s for sure though, his fight is not against Ukraine.

For Vladislav Davidzon, that pain of knowing someone Ukrainian is even closer: it is his wife, and the two of them are currently in Kyiv together. “My wife has asked me to burn my Russian passport when I get back home to her,” he said yesterday, “and I am going to do it.” When I ask Vladislav to expand on this point, I check his social media and realise he has been moved to a bomb shelter in Kyiv and told to stay away from the windows, with the air raid siren sounding overhead.

That’s what life is like in Ukraine right now - not just worry, but life-threatening fear. “We’re worried about our economy and what will happen next,” says Vera. “Uncertainty is hard, but hearing missiles over your head is another level.”

And it’s not just uncertainty pulsing through the streets of Russia right now: it’s anger. When hundreds of people defy solo picketing rules and riot police gather in multiple cities and protest, a move which will almost certainly lead to imprisonment, you know rage is a driving force.