The authorities call the war a "disaster", Navalny mocks Putin as a "crazy tsar" - he is now taking action

Created: 03/03/2022, 12:45 p.m

By: Patrick Mayer, Max Darga

Russian President Vladimir Putin at a press conference in the Kremlin (archive).

© IMAGO / ITAR-TASS

Valdimir Putin is waging war against Ukraine.

However, the mood in Russia is apparently changing.

Mothers worry about their soldiers' sons, journalists literally flee.

The news ticker.

• The Ukraine conflict* has turned into a war – how is the mood in Russia?

• Moscow blocks the last independent TV channel

  (see update from March 2, 6:10 p.m.

  ).

• Vladimir Putin's critic Alexej Navalny calls for protests

  (see first report).

• This

  news ticker on the mood in Russia

  is constantly updated.

  More on the background of the Ukraine crisis* here.

Update from March 2, 8:15 p.m .:

Are there protests and demonstrations in Russia?

ARD's "Tagesschau" reports that "people are too afraid of arrests".

There were only a few large protest rallies in Saint Petersburg or Yekaterinburg, but not in Moscow.

Individual demonstrators were immediately arrested, the report said.

"People are feeling more and more what sanctions are coming their way every day," explains the ARD correspondent for Russia, adding: "People are not informed about the extent and too little about what is really happening in Ukraine ", he says.

Ukraine war: reactions and mood in Russia - Moscow admits high losses

Update from March 2, 7:10 p.m .:

For the first time since the invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has admitted high losses among its own soldiers.

According to the ZDF, 498 Russian soldiers have been killed so far.

In addition, there were up to 1,600 injured and wounded among the troops.

For its part, the Ukrainian government claimed on Wednesday that up to 6,000 Russian soldiers had died.

The question remains how the death toll will affect the mood in Russia.

In Saint Petersburg, several hundred demonstrators took to the streets.

ZDF reported that large columns of police would drive through the streets of Moscow if there were protests.

Update from March 2, 6:30 p.m.:

Vladimir Putin will lose the war and Russia has to pay a horrendous price for this senseless campaign *, says Merkur editor-in-chief Georg Anastasiadis in a comment.

Ukraine war: reactions and mood in Russia - apparently censorship against the media

Update from March 2, 6:10 p.m .:

In Russia there is apparently censorship when it comes to reporting on the war in Ukraine.

Twitter and YouTube are said to have been severely restricted by the Russian authorities, reports the liberal Eastern European news portal

, among others .

According to consistent media reports, Russian authorities have now also blocked the last independent TV station ,

, that openly used the word "war".

But that's not all: Editor-in-chief Tikhon Dziadko is leaving Russia together with several employees.

He wrote on Telegram: "Greetings.

I want to make it clear that I have decided to leave Russia.” According to various reports, journalists critical of the regime are being threatened.

War in Ukraine: reactions and mood in Russia - Moscow refers to allegedly large reserves

Update from March 2nd, 5:20 p.m.:

According to Ukrainian reports, the Russian armed forces have high losses.

The human rights organization "Soldier's Mothers" of Russia provides insights.

And addresses a demand to Vladimir Putin.

Update from March 2, 2:22 p.m .:

According to the Kremlin, the Western sanctions are a serious blow to the Russian economy.

At the same time, the Kremlin in Moscow emphasized that the country had large reserves to withstand the pressure.

"She will stand still," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said of the economy on Wednesday, according to the Russian news agency Interfax.

Russia has cushions to cushion the consequences of the sanctions.

At the same time, he said that the giant empire would react to the sanctions imposed by the West - with a "level head" and "without shooting itself in the leg".

Ukraine war: Navalny calls on Russian people to protest against Putin's escalating conflict

First report from March 2nd:

Moscow - It is Putin's war, it is said again and again.

One should not condemn the entire Russian people for the actions of their President in the Ukraine conflict*.

There are many people who oppose Vladimir Putin* and protest.

For fear of consequences, however, even more Russians should not dare to speak out publicly.

For the imprisoned Kremlin critic Alexej Navalny*, fear leads to powerlessness.

He has now called for daily protests in Russia*, Belarus and elsewhere in the world against the Ukraine war: "I call on everyone to take to the streets and fight for peace," he wrote in a Twitter post on Wednesday (March 2nd).

"Let's not become a nation of scared voiceless."

Bounty on Putin in the video

Navalny sees the consequences of a protest as unfortunately necessary: ​​"If we have to fill the prisons and police cars to prevent a war, we will fill the prisons and police cars." Everything has a price and this must now be paid.

If there were no protests because of the restraint, Russia would be "a nation of cowards".

One should not close one's eyes to this "brutal war".

The war was "unleashed by our little, completely crazy tsar against Ukraine*," Navalny continues.

What is meant is undoubtedly the Russian President Putin.

"I cannot, will not and will not remain silent when pseudo-historical nonsense about events 100 years ago becomes an excuse for Russians to kill Ukrainians and those who defend themselves kill Russians."

Anti-war protests are officially banned in Russia.

Nevertheless, anti-war rallies have taken place in many Russian cities in recent days.

According to the non-governmental organization OVD-Info, 6,800 people were arrested.

In recent years, Alexej Navalny (45) has been at the forefront of a wave of protests unprecedented under Putin.

In 2020 he survived poisoning with the nerve agent Novichok* and was treated in Berlin.

He was arrested immediately on his return to Russia and is now serving a prison sentence on allegations of fraud.

Report: Local government agency from Moscow district criticizes Putin's Ukraine war

According to a report by

, a local government agency in Moscow's Gagarinsky district has now also spoken out against Putin's conduct of the war.

She is said to have called on Putin to withdraw his troops from Ukraine and called the war a "disaster" that would lead to the "impoverishment of the country".

Ukraine war: ex-oligarch predicts resistance in Russia

"I believe that the blocking of accounts is correct," former Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky told

, which alone is not enough to mobilize the Russian people.

He thinks "the toughest financial sanctions" are necessary.

"Stop everything, block everything." You can think about how to proceed in a month.

There may be further negotiations between Russia and Ukraine on Wednesday.

"He's sending forces into Ukraine that would normally be used against resistance in Russia," Khodorkovsky explains.

He ran out of “military means”.

"Now, if there is resistance against the government in Russia, he will be forced to bring these forces back to Russia." Khodorkovsky is convinced that there will be resistance in Russia.

You have to stick to the sanctions*.

(