Ukraine war: Wives of men mobilised to Russian frontline call for end to ‘legal slavery’
In a rented apartment in a Moscow suburb, Paulina is playing with her baby daughter Aurora.
Just 20 years old, motherhood suits her and Aurora is a happy, giggling child.
But like so many in Russia and in Ukraine, her father is on the frontlines – and Paulina wants him home.
She says: “I talked to my husband and he said: ‘Don’t ask for benefits or money. Ask for us to come home.’
“If my husband told me to ask then I will. I don’t think I’m violating any laws.”
Her husband was mobilised in October last year, one of 300,000 in a partial mobilisation which sent shockwaves through Russian society.
President Vladimir Putin‘s approval ratings dipped, hundreds of thousands fled the country and people took to the streets – though those protests were quickly suppressed.
But more than a year on, small groups of women like Paulina are campaigning to try to get their husbands home, with video appeals on social media and a few attempts at public protest quickly broken up by the authorities.
Paulina, 20, with her daughter, Aurora
Paulina’s husband was among 300,000 men sent to war in a partial mobilisation
‘We are against legal slavery’
“We are against legal slavery. Both mobilised and contract soldiers must have the right to be released from military service upon expiration of the contract or from one year after the end of conscription.
“We are against the country’s leadership ignoring our problem and remaining silent.”
That’s the message in a video on one Telegram channel called “Way Home”.
A group of women stand in the snow holding up sheets of paper calling for de-mobilisation. The channel has been labelled “fake news” by Telegram.
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State propagandists claim it is run by Alexei Navalny‘s team from abroad on behalf of Ukrainian and Western interests.
A rival, slicker video has found its way onto social media.
A series of women filmed in picturesque locations all across the country speak in succession, explaining to their fellow compatriots that those wives who complain are being “weaponised” by NATO and the West.
“The horrible stories that allegedly come from the front are written by people sitting in offices far away from the frontlines and getting money for it,” they say.
“They are the runaway criminals from Alexei Navalny’s friends, who are already proficient at destroying our country. They are creating another structure from the wives of the mobilised.”
It is a kind of info-war between the mothers and wives.
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This time last year similar groups of women were speaking out on social media. Their messages were mainly directed at getting adequate kit and sustenance to the freshly mobilised. They attracted significant media interest.
The most active among them, Olga Tsukanova, was promptly labelled a foreign agent and their voices were quickly suppressed.
The ability of these latest groups to continue to speak out will almost certainly be curtailed, too.
Most of them were never engaged in politics before. It is their first encounter with a system which has methodically eradicated anti-war sentiment or dissent of any kind, though that may come as news to them.
But now they are asking themselves the same questions about human rights, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly as political activists used to.
Political activist Yulia Galyamina
And they are not opposition – but simply women who have given their menfolk to the war for a year now and feel they have done their bit.
“They feel they have a right to influence this system,” says political activist Yulia Galyamina, who has been labelled a foreign agent by the state.
“The fact that they internally feel this right is very important.
“But of course, they may be crushed in the same way as everyone else because the very serious repressive machine in Russia is monstrous.”
Police in riot gear have raided Columbia University and arrested pro-Palestinian protesters occupying one of its buildings.
Around 30 to 40 people have been removed from the Manhattan university’s Hamilton Hall, according to police.
The raid came hours after New York City Mayor Eric Adams said the demonstration at the Ivy League school “must end now”.
He also claimed the demonstration had been infiltrated by “professional outside agitators”.
University bosses said they called in the New York Police Department (NYPD) after protesters “chose to escalate the situation through their actions”.
“After the university learned overnight that Hamilton Hall had been occupied, vandalised, and blockaded, we were left with no choice,” a university spokesman said in a statement.
“The decision to reach out to the NYPD was in response to the actions of the protesters, not the cause they are championing.
“We have made it clear that the life of campus cannot be endlessly interrupted by protesters who violate the rules and the law.”
Police enter Hamilton Hall. Pic: Reuters
Police gather around Columbia University before moving in to break-up the protest. Pic: Reuters
Police stand guard near an encampment of protesters on the grounds of Columbia University. Pic: Reuters
Arrested protesters from Columbia University are loaded onto a bus. Pic: Reuters
The protest began when students barricaded the entrance of Hamilton Hall at Columbia’s campus on Tuesday and unfurled a Palestinian flag out of a window.
Video footage showed protesters locking arms in front of the hall and carrying furniture and metal barricades to the building.
Those behind the protest said they had renamed the building “Hind’s Hall” in honour of Hind Rajab, a six-year-old girl killed in a strike on Gaza in February.
Protesters unfurled a flag with the words ‘Hind’s Hall’. Pic: Reuters
Protesters hang banners on the exterior of Hamilton Hall building. Pic: Reuters
Demonstrators said they had planned to remain at the hall until the university conceded to the Columbia University Apartheid Divest’s (CUAD) three demands: divestment, financial transparency and amnesty.
“Columbia will be proud of these students in five years,” said Sweda Polat, one of the student negotiators for CUAD.
She said students did not pose a danger and called on police to back down.
Officers raided the campus on Tuesday night after university bosses wrote to New York City officials and the NYPD formally asking for assistance.
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A large group of officers dressed in riot gear entered the campus late on Tuesday evening. Officers were also seen entering the window of a university building via a police-branded ladder vehicle, nicknamed “the bear”.
Earlier, Mayor Adams urged demonstrators to leave the site. “Walk away from this situation now and continue your advocacy through other means,” he said.
Columbia University also threatened academic expulsions for students involved in the demonstration.
Protesters block the entrance of Hamilton Hall at Columbia University. Pic: AP
Demonstrators block the entrance of Hamilton Hall. Pic: AP
Protests at Columbia earlier this month kicked off demonstrations which have spread to university campuses from California to Massachusetts.
Dozens of people were arrested on Monday during protests at universities in Texas, Utah, Virginia, and New Jersey.
Police moved to clear an encampment at Yale University in Connecticut on Tuesday morning, but there were no immediate reports of arrests.
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Meanwhile, the president of the University of South California issued a statement on Tuesday after a swastika was drawn on the campus.
“I condemn any antisemitic symbols or any form of hate speech against anyone,” Carol Folt said.
“Clearly it was drawn there just to incite even more anger at a time that is so painful for our community. We’re going to work to get to the bottom of this immediately, and it has just been removed.”
Earlier, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said President Joe Biden believed students occupying buildings was “absolutely the wrong approach” and “not an example of peaceful protest”.
World
Georgia: Police use water cannon, tear gas and stun grenades to disperse protesters opposing ‘foreign agent’ bill
Police in Georgia’s capital have used water cannon, tear gas and stun grenades against crowds outside the country’s parliament protesting against a bill the opposition says aims to crack down on press freedoms.
The legislation being debated by parliamentarians will require media and non-commercial organisations to register as being under foreign influence if they receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad.
Police used water cannon to disperse protesters. Pic: AP
Pic: AP
Thousands of demonstrators gathered in the streets of Tbilisi on Tuesday to oppose the legislation.
Clashes erupted between security forces and protesters as they faced tear gas, water cannon and stun grenades.
Thousands gathered to oppose the legislation. Pic: AP
Pic: AP
Pic: AP
Reuters eyewitnesses saw some police officers physically attack protesters, who threw eggs and bottles at them, before deploying the tactics to force crowds from outside the parliament building, the news agency reported.
After being dispersed, thousands continued to block Tbilisi’s main Rustaveli Avenue, barricading it with cafe tables and rubbish bins. Some shouted “slaves” and “Russians” at police.
Clashes erupted between police and demonstrators. Pic: AP
Levan Khabeishvili, the leader of Georgia‘s largest opposition party, the United National Movement, posted an image on X with his face bloodied and sporting a black eye.
A party official told Reuters that Mr Khabeishvili was beaten by police after disappearing from central Tbilisi.
Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, who is opposed to the bill and whose powers are mostly ceremonial, said in a post on X the crackdown had been “totally unwarranted, unprovoked and out of proportion” and that the protests had been peaceful.
Demonstrators sit in protest. Pic: AP
Pic: AP
The bill has heightened political divisions, setting the ruling Georgian Dream party against a protest movement backed by opposition groups, communities, celebrities and the figurehead president.
It is viewed by the opposition as authoritarian and bearing a resemblance to Russian anti-independent media legislation.
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Politicians brawl in parliament
Critics have labelled the divisive bill “the Russian law”, comparing it to Moscow’s “foreign agent” legislation which has been used to crack down on dissent there.
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Parliament endorsed the bill in the first reading earlier this month. It must pass two more readings before becoming law.
A protester holds up an EU flag. Pic: AP
Those opposed to the legislation see it as an impediment to Georgia’s long-sought prospects of joining the European Union.
EU officials have said it could halt Georgia’s progress towards integration with the bloc.
The UK has sent the first failed asylum seeker to Rwanda under a voluntary scheme.
The scheme is for those who have gone through the asylum process and had permission rejected, rather than for migrants who have illegally entered Britain by crossing the Channel on small boats.
The migrant was sent on a commercial flight and handed a fee from the British taxpayer to help relocate under the terms of a deal with Rwanda.
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According to The Sun, the man of African origin claimed asylum in the UK but was rejected at the end of last year. He then accepted the offer to go to Rwanda.
He left the UK on Monday.
This was not done using the powers set out in the Safety of Rwanda Act, but rather a parallel scheme that allows someone to choose to make the trip if their attempts to claim asylum in the UK fails.
And upon arrival in Kigali, the person is able to claim around £3,000 in UK taxpayer money as help.
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Migrants ‘will be found and removed’
The development was criticised by both the Labour Party and Reform UK director Nigel Farage.
Yvette Cooper, Labour’s shadow home secretary, said: “The Tories are so desperate to get any flight off to Rwanda before the local elections that they have now just paid someone to go.
“British taxpayers aren’t just forking out £3,000 for a volunteer to board a plane, they are also paying Rwanda to provide him with free board and lodgings for the next five years. This extortionate pre-election gimmick is likely to be costing on average £2m per person.
“Former Tory Home Office ministers warned that the government’s plan was just to get token flights off before a General Election. Now we know what they mean.”
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Former UKIP leader Mr Farage said: “Don’t be conned by this new government spin on the Rwanda deal.
“This African man, who did not even cross the Channel, was refused asylum and has voluntarily accepted £3,000 and free board.
“It won’t stop the boats.”
The government’s attempts to forcefully remove people to Rwanda were announced more than two years ago, but no one has been sent so far.
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Earlier this month, parliament passed the Safety of Rwanda Act, and the government hopes to get flights off the ground in nine to 11 weeks.
A government spokesperson said: “We are now able to send asylum seekers to Rwanda under our migration and economic development partnership.
“This deal allows people with no immigration status in the UK to be relocated to a safe third country where they will be supported to rebuild.”
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