Vladimir Putin is facing a surging backlash from the wives of Russian troops forced to fight in the Ukraine war as fury against his invasion reaches new heights.
The loved ones of those soldiers being forced to fight in the Russia-Ukraine war indefinitely have taken to writing letters to Putin, appealing to the Defence Ministry and public protests in a desperate effort to return them home.
Russia has mobilised hundreds of thousands of troops since the start of the war – many of which have been killed in battle – but the Kremlin is refusing to budge, with the relatives’ questions to the president’s annual “direct line” call-in show for Russians last week ignored.
The Kremlin is trying to stifle any dissent, with Russian authorities sending FSB agents to question soldiers whose wives are involved, according to Telegram group “The Way Home”.
The channel, which has also urged Putin to end the Ukraine war “or go to the frontline yourself and die,” has also claimed military officers have even threatened to send soldiers into front-line assault operations unless they silence their wives.
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A recent post on the channel read: “Your methods are very dirty. You are trying to calm our anger by putting pressure on our relatives.
“Keep in mind that we can lose them at any moment. You are playing with their lives and ours. These are the obvious methods of cowards and rats.”
One single mother of a soldier sent to fight in Ukraine against his will said men were being sent “to slaughter” in suicidal battle missions, often calling their wives beforehand to say their final goodbyes.
The woman told The Washington Post: “I’m an ordinary village woman, and my son couldn’t even kill a chicken, and now all this has happened. Every day you live in fear and worry. You live from one text message to another message.
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She claimed her son was locked in a squalid military prison for a week after he refused an order to follow an order to storm an enemy position.
The mother added: “They pretend that we do not exist. They call us traitors to the motherland. It makes you feel disappointment, resentment, annoyance, and perhaps all the negative feelings. The question constantly arises – how can we be treated like this?”
A 26-year-old woman with a young son, who is also a member of the Telegram channel “The Way Home”, said her husband was mobilized on October 26, 2022. She said law-abiding people obeyed the mobilization order “and then the country betrayed them.”
The woman told The Washington Post: “My husband’s mood is that, ‘We are here to the very end, and maybe we will never return.’ When he calls me, you can hear the explosions in the background, and it’s really frightening.”
But Russian political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya believes that Putin and the Kremlin will stick to their plan that is garnering such hostility from the loved ones of troops being forced to fight in the Ukraine war.
She said: “There will be no pity. The Kremlin will try to keep them silent. If there will be some more radicalized actions, they will resort to more repressive measures.”
