Wives of Russian men mobilized for Ukraine war lay flowers in protest

The wives of Russian men mobilized for the Kremlin's war in Ukraine protested the continued deployment of their husbands by laying flowers at military cemeteries on Saturday.

"Our president has declared 2024 the year of the family, but our families, namely those of those mobilized, probably don't count as citizens of Russia," opposition website Sota quoted one protester as saying. The outlet also published pictures of the protest on its Telegram channel.

The images show women laying red carnations at the Eternal Fire with the slogan "Women for Peace" on the Field of Mars in St. Petersburg.

In Moscow, they show relatives in front of the General Staff building, holding posters demanding the return of their husbands from the front.

The Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. By autumn 2022, after a series of defeats for his army in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin officially conscripted around 300,000 men, despite having promised not to involve ordinary citizens in the war.

Many of them are still at the front today and their families have intensified their protests in recent weeks. They are demanding the demobilization of the forcibly recruited soldiers.

However, it is difficult to assess the size of the protest movement, due to the strict censorship in Russia and persecution of opponents of the conflict. The images showed only a few women taking part in Saturday's protests.