by Marco Imarisio
The meeting was televised: “Don’t believe the propaganda.” The women were chosen from among those most loyal to the President. Except for the critical ones
«I fully understand that for you too, this celebration is connected to the feeling of fear that you are experiencing. Thinking about what’s happening to your boys. And for those of you who have lost your child, I want you to know that I personally and the whole country share your pain.”
Nothing can be said or done to soldiers’ mothers. You can only listen to them. In Russia, they are a category that is as respected as it is feared. They are a free zone for what they suffer, for what they suffer. They often gave a voice to those who could not speak and wrote pages of history. In the days of the first Chechen war, their protests played a big part in persuading Boris Yeltsin to withdraw from that slaughter. Vladimir Putin entered the Kremlin a few months ago when, in October 2000, he suffered the first and last confrontation of his life when the mothers and wives of the sailors on the Kursk submarine that had sunk with the entire crew of 107 people who Funerals changed at sea victims of a fierce indictment of the new president. Also because of these precedents, his public events always take place in front of a selected audience. For Mother’s Day, which is celebrated today and which falls first in a special military operation, the Kremlin has decided to organize a meeting at Putin’s residence in Novo-Ogariovo near Moscow. He played at home, in every sense.
The Telegram channel identified the seventeen participants and called them “special moms”. Many are officials of the United Popular Front, a pro-Putinian organization that, along with the United Russia party, promotes the president’s activities through various bottom-up initiatives. Olga Beltseva, a Moscow leader and deputy of United Russia, was tasked with illustrating the difficulties faced by soldiers on the front lines. Yulia Belechova, head of the Executive Committee of the Front in the Moscow Region, also spoke. Nadezhda Usunova, who has been close to Putin on other celebratory occasions, is a former adviser on domestic policy for a Siberian region. Filmmaker Olesya Shigina, an author of patriotic films and documentaries, sat on the president’s left. Next to her Zharadat Aguyeva, representative of the Chechen aristocracy and personal friend of Kadyrov, who was also present at a working meeting with Putin.
There was, so to speak, no great danger of quarrels. Putin gave a short speech that was later televised. Alongside the usual “We will achieve our goals in Ukraine,” he issued a warning that, backlit, seems to reveal some concern about the mood in the country. “Don’t believe TV and the Internet. Life is more complex than what is shown on screens, where, in general, nothing can be trusted: many fakes, deceptions, lies. Information is a weapon of struggle».
Putin has not provided figures on Russian casualties, which the Ukrainian counterpart said would have risen to 86,150. He limited himself to the statement that the military hospitals, in which the wounded are treated, are 38 percent occupied. Speaking of the numbers, in the new poll conducted by the Levada Center, the latest independent polling company, nearly sixty percent of respondents said they felt “very concerned” about the situation in Ukraine, while 26 percent said it was time to start negotiations. and 31% that it would be better to think about it. Neither the representatives of the historical associations nor those of the new “Council of Mothers and Wives”, a structure that came into being after the beginning of the partial mobilization, were invited to the meeting and were very effective in the media. The activists have repeatedly asked for talks with Putin, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, the government and the military prosecutor’s office. Vain. This week they organized a round table with journalists in Moscow. They want to know where they are and what condition their children are in. So far, no member of the institutions has responded.
November 25, 2022 (Change November 25, 2022 | 22:46)
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