Margarita Eliohina could not be silent.
A few days ago she left her press card in the system, waived any identification mark that would give her privileges on the ground, and joined as a civilian hundreds of other people who came to the Pushkin Square area in Moscow to protest against the Russian army's invasion of Ukraine.
"I came out of anger at Russia's decision," Elihuina, 31, told Israel This Week, "as if this invasion was taking place in my name, at the expense of the taxes I pay, I, who never voted for this regime. I am angry that Russia has started a war on a country with which "And our people are sister nations. Anyone who is angry about this war should speak out against it, not to be considered collaborators."
Asia Kazantzeva (35) was also there.
"It was impossible not to come, I am a citizen and resident of a country that for no rational reason attacked its neighbor and began bombing cities over their residents," says the science journalist and writer, bride of the "Educated" Award for 2014, "If I do not express my disagreement, it will be seen "Consent. How can you look children in the eye after that?"
Both Kazantzeva and Elihuina were detained during the demonstration, but were released shortly afterwards.
Dozens arrested in demonstration in St. Petersburg against invasion of Ukraine // Credit: Reuters
While the Russian army has been immersed in Ukrainian soil for more than a week, inside Russia there is growing unrest against the decision to go to war.
More than a million people have signed a petition calling for a ceasefire.
Nearly 7,000 civilians were arrested during the anti-invasion demonstrations in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg and elsewhere, many of which were beaten.
In general, it should be understood that even before the war, going to a demonstration without a permit from the authorities (who never grant it) was a risk of certain detention - and that is at best.
With the start of the war, the Putin regime imposed a long list of restrictions and effectively eliminated any freedom of expression.
Demonstrating solidarity with Ukraine or calling for an end to the war could end in a police station, donating to Ukraine is a criminal offense, while censorship silenced the FM broadcasts of the Echo Moscow radio station and blocked the broadcast of the independent TV channel Dodge, two of the last islands Of restricted press freedom in Russia.
Social networks like Facebook and Twitter are slowing down, and in an attempt to totally take over the field of information - the Kremlin has no red lines.
All citizens should hear daily the reports of the General Staff spokesman, who claimed until Tuesday that Russia has no casualties - while photos of hundreds of Russian soldiers killed in Ukrainian fields are circulated on every possible network.
"Putin needs to go."
Zubov,
"Of course it's scary to go out and protest," says Kazantzva, "but you know, the people of Ukraine under the bombings are also not really comfortable now. If we can express sympathy at least that way, we must."
Elihuina agrees: "There are ways to express a position. It is impossible to do so safely, but not everyone will be imprisoned: there are 144 million people in Russia."
The pyramid collapses
On Wednesday, the protest received another wind in its sails: the world-famous opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, a prison lecturer in a penal colony, called on the masses to take to the streets.
"We, Russia, want to be a nation of peace. Unfortunately, too few people will call us that. But let's at least not be a nation of quiet and frightened people, of cowards who pretend not to pay attention to the aggressive war launched by a blatantly insane tsar." , Wrote on Twitter.
The last major protests in Russia were a year and two months ago, after he returned to Russia and was immediately arrested.
Navalny, the man who survived the Putin regime's assassination attempt on chemical weapons, has long since become a living symbol in Russia and it is not inconceivable that his call is already permeating and translating into deeds, even though his organizational infrastructure has been liquidated and his colleagues exiled.
Margarita Eliochina: "I do not think the protests will affect the decision-making; I do not feel guilty because I did not vote for this government, but I do feel anger. It will be difficult to correct what Ukraine feels towards Russia."
At the same time, as of the second weekend of the invasion, it is still difficult to see how it is evolving into a revolutionary movement.
Not for nothing, as the satirist Victor Shandrovich recently noted, propaganda is the only thing that works properly in Russia.
For 22 years in Putin, almost all the major media outlets have been subordinated to the Kremlin's messages and have been obsessively cultivating myths about "Nazi" Ukraine that is nothing more than a puppet in the hands of the West - while Russia is actually a USSR incursion of Ukrainians from their rule. "70 percent of Russians support Putin - whether out of agreement or out of fear. And despite this figure, which should be taken with a lot of skepticism like anything that comes out of Moscow, senior Russian historian Prof. Andrei Zubov believes there is much room for optimism.
" "Every regime needs a social infrastructure," said Zubov, one of dozens of Russian intelligence officials who signed a public call to end the war immediately. "True, most Russians support Putin, but only 50 percent, in my opinion."
"What we have done is unforgivable."
Asia Kazantzeva, Photo: Anastasia Anders
On Tuesday, Zubov posted on his Facebook page, claiming that the war was the beginning of Putin's end.
Where does this security come from?
"Every society is a pyramid, and in authoritarian rule this pyramid is steeper and its base narrower.
"Eighty percent of those who support Putin are ordinary people who are not interested in politics, although they have anti-American tendencies that stem from jealousy and propaganda. There are also those who understand the atrocities in Ukraine, but the majority are loyal to the government. Putin, as happened in 1917. They sat in their kitchens because it was difficult to get them out even for paid demonstrations.
Police arrest a man in a demonstration in Moscow against Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Photo: AFP
"The second layer of the pyramid - 19 percent - is a cultural layer. In this layer there is a great polarization between the majority, who suffer and protest against the deeds, and the part bought by the government. These are, for example, employees of government bodies, corporations or cultural figures. The war, but there are 30 percent who are driven by greed and when few actually support it ideologically. "
Where are the rich?
But the solution to the situation Russia is in may come from precisely the same one percent that remains at the top: the government itself.
"This percentage is the main beneficiaries of the Putin method," Zubov continues.
"They made a deal with Putin and sold their conscience to Putin to live well: they do not touch politics - he lets them steal, take over businesses, sell raw materials abroad (natural resources; db) and so on. Now all these people understand that Putin Deceived them, that he did not fulfill his part in the contract.He demanded from them a public trust, but did not give them any more - no assets abroad, no yachts and nothing.
And what is there in the place?
is nothing.
"Because this regime is not ideological, Putin is becoming redundant for them."
Zubov: "Putin is the president of a huge country with a nuclear button, but if the elite does not support him, he becomes an old man with fantasies. Putin is not Napoleon and he is unable to bridge to the masses above the elite."
According to Zubov, who also serves as vice president of Parnassus (a liberal-democratic party from the unsystematic opposition that is not allowed to run in the elections), "If Putin is still sane, he should go now and leave Russia as well. That is his only chance to avoid. From The Hague or God forbid to end in suicide. He kept his surroundings under the illusion that 'our Crimea', 'lower sanctions', 'Ukraine will become a partner like Belarus' - and everyone believed him. After all he is such a genius, and everything will work out.
"But he did not leave. He did not leave because of the determination of the West, because of the courage of the Ukrainians and specifically President Zlansky, who no one expected as a man of culture to demonstrate power of iron. The Ukrainian army fights, has equipment and ammunition, tens of thousands of Ukrainians return home to fight, Direct, they can shoot far. There is no desire in him to fight. Putin lost everything. A noble man would commit suicide, a noble man would look for a place to escape, like Nazis after World War II.
"They will not put everyone in jail."
Elihuina,
"99 percent are the last days, maybe weeks, of the regime. Putin is the president of a huge country with a nuclear button, but if the elite does not support him, he becomes an old man with fantasies. Whoever needs him is an uneducated people with anti-American tendencies, But Putin is not Napoleon and he is incapable of bridging the masses over the elite, both because he is older and because his rule is not revolutionary. He has no one to lean on.
"I already know there is a shock in the corridors of power, there are also unfulfilled instructions. Everything now looks like in the August 1991 putsch - then it was terribly scary at first, but a few days later it became a farce. This time there is much more blood, but the result will be the same."
In recent days, there have also been two oligarchs from around Putin who have spoken out against the war.
Four deputies from the Communist Party said they supported recognition of the separatist republics rather than an invasion of Ukraine.
In other words, there are initial signs of fermentation.
But until she accumulates a critical mass - or someone just shows up next to Putin with enough determination to keep him away - Margarita Eliochina is not going to give up.
"As someone who has been going out for protests in Russia for ten years, I do not think that protests can influence decision-making. Point actions, in any case, will not affect. But we have not seen big protests. Either way, we go out to do something with our feelings. I do not. "I feel particularly guilty because I did not even vote for this government, but I did feel anger and pain. It will be very difficult to correct what the Ukrainians are feeling now towards Russia, and that is certainly understandable."
Asia Kazantzeva has a message for the Ukrainians: "You are amazing. I believe in your victory, because your cohesion, identification and greatness of soul goes beyond what is possible. In Russia so far there are only a million people, who are actively speaking out against the war. (Today even war is not allowed to be called 'war') and many people really do not know what is happening. And all those who could have headed the protest long ago were murdered, left or sitting in jail. What we did to you is not forgiven, but we really did not want it. An occupying power has been sitting for twenty years. "
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