Two categories of people were invited by Boris Nadezhdin to a dark, empty restaurant on the outskirts of Moscow on Thursday evening. The most important were the spouses of soldiers who, in autumn 2022, were called up to the war in Ukraine. The others were journalists. With a couple of exceptions, only Western media came. Nadezhdin wanted to show her support to women who demand that their mobilized men must be allowed to return home. Some of them have been in the war for almost a year and a half. – Those of you who do not want to be photographed can sit on the left. Those of you who don’t mind can sit on the right, Nadezhdin said to the women. Many were excited, and some a little scared. Some Russians who work for Western media did not come because they feared that the security police FSB would come and register participants. Boris Nadezhdi at the meeting on Thursday evening, where soldiers’ wives and journalists were invited. Photo: Evgenia Novozhenina / Reuters Challenged Putin on state TV Boris Nadezhdin is the man who has spoken opposite President Putin on the state TV channel NTV. Twice even. – We must start negotiations on how to end the war, Nadezhdin said in the program “The Meeting Place” in September 2022. He said that it is more important to have a good relationship with Europe than to wage a war of colonization in Ukraine. In May last year, he referred to the presidential election on 17 March this year and said that the country must choose a president other than Putin. The presenters protested, grimaced and inserted commercial breaks. Western commentators analyzed back and forth whether the events signaled a “new openness”. But no, Nadezhdin’s outcome on state television has remained quite unique. The program “Møteplassen” on the state television channel NTV has several times invited Boris Nadezhdin to participate in debates. Now he is no longer invited. Photo: screenshot Angry and disappointed women – The ladies here are patriots. But the war has made ordinary women turn against the authorities, Nadezhdin said when he opened the meeting. Maria’s husband and brother were among the around 300,000 who were mobilized in September 2022. That is, they received a call-up and are therefore not voluntary contract soldiers. – My husband has been in the trenches since February last year. He has not seen anything about rotating the forces. Neither has my brother. – What have they been guilty of, asks Maria. She almost freaks out and wants them home. Maria Andrejeva has tried several times to arrange public meetings for the families of mobilized soldiers. Each time they have been refused citing the risk of covid infection. At the same time, state institutions organize public meetings all the time. Photo: Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP Antonina has a 45-year-old man with chronic gastritis, or gastric catarrh. He was also called up almost a year and a half ago. He thought he would be exempted, but at the mobilization center they claimed that the documentation could be “false”. He has not yet received any treatment for the stomach problems. But is now in a hospital near the front because he was wounded in battle as a tank driver. – Send him home, says Antonina when I ask what her message to Putin is. Antonina said that the man was first handed a bulletproof vest with blood on it. The tank driver has asked to be transferred to lighter duties, but has been refused. Photo: Jurij Linkevitsj / news The women are part of a loose network called “The Way Home”. They themselves say they count 39,000 soldiers’ wives. The main demand is the demobilization of those who were called up almost a year and a half ago. They also have their own channel on the Russian messaging platform “Telegram”. Screenshot from Telegram: “Someone” has pasted the word “fake” next to the name of the Telegram channel of the network “The Way Home”. The channel has been lambasted by Putin-loyal commentators on TV and Telegram. Photo: Screenshot Collecting signatures – This meeting is unique. Other presidential candidates do not take the time to listen to voters, at least not to those who are critical of the war. Says Boris Nadezhdin himself. He needs 100,000 signatures before 31 January to be registered as a presidential candidate. That is the requirement for candidates with a party behind them. He has the support of a small and rather unknown party, “Borgerinitiativet”. Nadezjdin tells news that he thinks it will work. Boris Nadezhdin was at the Central Electoral Commission on 26 December to start the procedure of being registered as a presidential candidate. Photo: Reuters – But don’t those who sign that they support a war opponent run the risk of getting into trouble? – They risk nothing. It is stated in the Russian constitution that everyone has the right to criticize the current authorities. They can say that Putin is wrong, that he is leading the country into a dead end. So says the former deputy chairman of the Duma, Russia’s lower house. He obviously knows very well that the constitution is no guarantee against being persecuted for speaking out against the war. There is also a law that makes statements that discredit Russia’s armed forces punishable by up to 15 years in prison. President Vladimir Putin was with loyal wives and children of soldiers at the front during the Russian Christmas celebration in Novo-Ogaryovo on January 7. Photo: Reuters But if he were to get 100,000 signatures, would they be accepted by the electoral commission? – In my long political career, I have many times collected signatures that were not approved, and which led to my not being registered. – Last summer, I stood as a candidate for the post of governor in Moscow County. And you know what? It turned out that I had too few signatures because many of them were “too bad”. No chance This is just one of many ways to stop people outside the “system”. And the “system” in that context is the parties that are represented in the national assembly, the Duma. Boris Nadezhdin has no chance of becoming Russia’s next president. But the 60-year-old does not give up, and the desire to help the soldiers’ wives seems sincere. Many wonder why he is allowed to criticize the war and Putin as he does. Perhaps it is because, after all, he does not have the same power to mobilize and organize as the opposition politician Alexei Navalny. He is placed in a prison camp in northwestern Siberia.
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The war resister who wants to challenge Putin – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
