Russians struggle to understand war in Ukraine: “We did not choose this”

“It’s always safer to stand with others … to look over your shoulder in case you have to run,” said Tasha, who asked that her last name not be used for her safety. At one point, Tasha said her friends left the protest to go home or warm up somewhere else, leaving her alone on the street.

“Then a group of cops passed me … and suddenly one of them looked at me and then they turned around, walked towards me and detained me,” she said of the February 24 protest.

Protests continue across Russia as young citizens, along with middle-aged and even retired people, take to the streets to speak out against a military conflict ordered by their president, a decision they say they have no say.

Now they are finding their voice. But Russian authorities intend to end any public dissent against the attack on Ukraine. Police squeeze demonstrations almost as fast as they appear, attract some protesters and destroying others.

Police in St. Petersburg arrested at least 350 anti-war protesters on Wednesday, bringing the total number of detainees arrested or arrested to 7,624 since the invasion began, according to an independent organization that monitors human rights abuses in Russia.

Opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s military operation in Ukraine, though still limited, comes from some unexpected places.

One of Russia’s richest men, Ukrainian-born billionaire businessman Mikhail Friedman called the violence a “tragedy”, adding that “war can never be the answer” – but he stopped criticizing Putin directly, according to the Financial Times.

“If I make a political statement that is unacceptable in Russia, it will have very clear consequences for the company, for our customers, for our creditors, for our stakeholders,” Friedman said.

Russian businessman, co-founder of Alfa-Group Mikhail Friedman in Moscow, September 2019

Another oligarch, Oleg Deripaska, posted on his Telegram channel: “Peace is very important! Negotiations must begin as soon as possible.”

Meanwhile, members of Russia’s “intelligentsia” – academics, writers, journalists and others – have issued public appeals condemning the war, including a rare “open letter” to Putin signed by 1,200 students, faculty and staff at MGIMO University, the prestigious Moscow State Institute of International Affairs. relations related to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which produces most of the elite of the government and foreign affairs of Russia.

The signatories declare that they are “strongly against the military actions of the Russian Federation in Ukraine.”

“We find it morally unacceptable to stand aside and remain silent when people die in a neighboring country. “They are dying because of those who chose weapons instead of peaceful diplomacy,” the letter said.

The letter is strikingly personal, with the signatories explaining that: “Many of us have friends and relatives who live in areas where hostilities are taking place. our children and grandchildren will feel the consequences. Many generations of future diplomats will have to rebuild trust in Russia and good relations with our lost neighbors. ”

A MGIMO spokesman did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.

The Moscow State Institute of International Relations, often abbreviated MGIMO, is an academic institution run by Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Publicly, Russian diplomats are on par with the Kremlin, although the head of a Russian delegation to a UN climate change summit Oleg Anisimov, apologized for the military operation, according to The Washington Post, “on behalf of all Russians who failed to prevent this conflict,” adding that “those who know what is happening are unable to find any justification for the attack. ”

But many Russians do not really know exactly what is happening in Ukraine. State-controlled television shows almost no reports of Russian bombing and shelling in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, instead focusing on so-called Ukrainian “nationalists” and “neo-fascists.”

Ukraine wants Russia to be cut off from the global Internet.  Experts say this is a risky idea
About a week after Russian forces entered Ukraine, many Russians are still dealing with the fact that the war is actually happening. United States and other Western officials have been warning of the impending attack for weeks, but Russian state media, especially television newscasts, have scoffed at the allegations, saying Moscow has no plans to take military action against Kyiv. In a CNN poll completed before the invasion, only 13 percent of Russians believe a Russian attack is likely, and two out of three (65 percent) expect a peaceful end to tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

But Russian young people like 25-year-old Arina, who lives in Moscow, don’t watch TV – she says she hasn’t watched it in seven years. She is on the Internet, reading blogs and listening to vloggers. She has not yet taken part in protests, but she has seen young people on the streets take part in “silent protests” by sticking “No to War” signs on their backpacks or bags.

She is also struggling to understand why this war is happening in Ukraine and what it will mean for her own life as a young Russian.

“It’s very difficult to predict anything, of course, the situation is terrible,” said Arina, who asked CNN to use only her first name for her safety. “Some of my friends are very worried about the future, very scared because we don’t know how it will affect us.

Firefighters work in a building fire after the bombing of the city of Chuguev in eastern Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

But Arina’s mother sees him quite differently: “My mother believes everything she sees on TV,” says Arina.

“She believes this was a necessary measure by Putin because there are weapons around the country … there is a threat from the West, which is why Putin is doing this.

Arina says she has even looked at a guide in a Russian online student magazine, Doxa, which suggests how young Russians can talk to their parents and others about the war in Ukraine. “We understand how painful it can be when your parents, friends, colleagues, grandparents become supporters of the war,” it said.

“So we decided to prepare a guide on how to talk about war with those who justify it. In our guide you will find answers to 17 of the most common arguments spread by propaganda and most often heard in battles, “it said.

Arina read it just in time. On February 28, the magazine reported that the Russian government agency, which controls communications, IT and the media, had asked Doxa to remove the management from its website.

China has asked Russia to postpone the invasion of Ukraine until after the Olympics, according to Western intelligence

Arina says she and her mother had a very heated argument.

“She just doesn’t accept my position and thinks I’m pro-Western, I don’t understand anything. She doesn’t believe what I’m saying, I don’t believe what she’s saying … We have a lot of different sources of information: I’m learning everything from the independent media, which has been blocked in Russia for a long time, and she’s watching TV. ”

As Arina and her friends follow the news of Ukraine on social media, they see disgust among many in the West at Putin’s decision to attack Ukraine. The Russians, she says, have contradictory, polarly opposite reactions.

“The first is that everyone says, ‘Yes, we should be ashamed.’ The second is, “No, let us not be ashamed of ourselves and let us not impose on ourselves decisions that we have not made.”

But both sides agree on one thing, Arina says: “They want the international community to know that the people are not their president and we have not chosen that.”