As of: March 8, 2024, 6:23 p.m
By: Leonie Hudelmaier, Kathrin Braun
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Thousands of Russian women took to the streets on March 8, 1917 to demand an end to the First World War.
Over 100 years later, women in Russia and Belarus are fighting against their regime again.
Munich – The young woman, who is not even 30 years old, gathers all her courage when her friend presses the record button.
“I am standing in front of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation,” she says into the camera.
“And I hope that someone will hear me.” It is minus 15 degrees in Moscow and the streets are covered in snow.
The Russian woman has a white scarf wrapped around her head and is holding a poster in her hands.
“Freedom for the mobilized,” it says in Russian capital letters.
“Bring back the husbands, fathers and sons.”
The woman's name is unknown.
She is not an opposition member, not a prominent resistance fighter.
She protests alone in front of the ministry, as the wife of a physics teacher who had to go to war involuntarily a year and a half ago.
Their son was three months old at the time.
The video is one of dozens of its kind in the Telegram chat “Put Domoj” (Way Home).
The group was founded in August last year by a few soldiers' wives and now has over 70,000 members.
International Women's Day: A movement without a leader
Today is a special day for all of them: International Women's Day also has its origins in Russia.
On March 8, 1917, tens of thousands of Russian women took to the streets in St. Petersburg, then called Petrograd, while their men were fighting at the front in World War I.
The women started a revolution that ultimately even overthrew the Tsar and ended the monarchy in Russia.
And it was communist women who decided at a conference in Moscow in 1921 to celebrate International Women's Day on March 8th instead of March 19th.
Silent protest: A young Russian woman stands in front of the Ministry of Defense in Moscow.
“Freedom for the mobilized.
Bring back the husbands, fathers and sons,” reads the poster she is holding.
© Screenshot: Telegram/Put Domoj
March 8th is now one of the most important national holidays in Russia.
For a long time it was no longer seen as a day of resistance - but rather as a prelude to the beginning of spring, when husbands usually bring their wives flowers and chocolates.
That hasn't been the case for two years.
“Putin doesn’t even remember his own promise of March 8, 2022,” says a woman from the “Put Domoj” movement.
At that time, the Kremlin leader assured in his speech that there would be no mobilization for his “military operation.”
A lie.
Six months later, he sent more than 300,000 reservists to Ukraine.
Russian women protest against war in Ukraine
The women of “Put Domoj” now exchange images and videos almost every day of themselves demanding the end of the war on the street - usually in small groups or alone, almost always with a white headscarf as an identifying feature.
They don't belong to any major movements and don't organize any large demonstrations.
There is no female leader.
Famous opposition women like Yulia Navalnaya, who has emerged as the new face of the Russian resistance since the death of her husband Alexei, are in exile.
On Russia's streets, soldiers' wives are the last resistance fighters.
Their protest is quiet, peaceful; often they only lay red carnations for the return of their men.
Nevertheless, they are a thorn in the side of the Kremlin.
A lawmaker from the ruling United Russia party recently called for the channel to be classified as an extremist organization.
Since then, Telegram has labeled it as “fake”.
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The struggle of women is frustrating.
“We are all terribly tired,” writes a woman from the “Put Domoj” group on the portal.
“It is difficult to describe the emotional state in which we have been languishing for a year and a half.” Nevertheless, she wants to encourage her fellow campaigners.
“A deep bow to those who are not afraid.
You are strong and courageous.” Another woman promises that she will wear the white cloth every day – as a symbol of hope for her husband’s return.
“But it could be replaced with a black one any day.”
In Belarus, many women have fallen silent
In neighboring Belarus, women have also lost their husbands to a repressive regime and an oppressive ruler.
“Today is also a dark anniversary for me personally,” Belarusian opposition figure Svetlana Tichanowskaya told our newspaper, referring to International Women’s Day.
“A whole year has passed without me hearing from my husband Siarhei (Sergei), who is being held in solitary confinement by the regime.”
Resistance against Lukashenko: Police officers carry away a woman in Minsk in September 2020 who is protesting against the election results in Belarus.
© dpa
There is no longer any resistance in Belarus – neither against the war in Ukraine nor against the regime.
“Open protests have become almost impossible,” says Tichanowskaja.
It all begins in May 2020. The war in Ukraine has not yet broken out, but Belarus' ruler Alexander Lukashenko has long been considered a puppet of the Kremlin boss.
The blogger Sergei Tichanovsky announces that he will run against Lukashenko in the presidential election in August 2020 - and is arrested.
For him, his wife is moving to the front line.
Tichanowskaya and two other women give the resistance a face: Maria Kolesnikova, head of staff for the imprisoned opposition figure Viktor Babariko, is running for her boss;
Veronika Zepkalo for her husband Valeri.
They continue the fight of the oppressed opposition.
Thousands of women march through Belarus' streets, also here in white, with flowers in their hands.
Guarded by black-uniformed police officers with batons and balaclavas.
Even after International Women's Day: the fight continues from exile
The women in white shape the Belarusian revolution.
“This movement has shown what a strong role women can play in the fight for democracy and freedom,” says Tichanowskaya.
“We represented a different, more humane approach to politics and governance.” The protest gave strength and took away fear.
An emancipation of society.
Today the fear is back.
Almost four years later, Lukashenko still clings to power.
The 2020 election is considered rigged.
Tichanowskaja claims victory in the election.
She lives in exile in Lithuania, Zepkalo in Greece, Kolesnikova has been sentenced to eleven years in prison.
The resistance is in people's minds, no longer on the streets.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya ran against Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko.
© Bernd von Jutrczenka
Today, like a computer virus warning, a banner is running across the website of the Belarus Women's Foundation, which campaigns for women's rights in Belarus.
“190 women in Belarus are in political custody, 510 women are under house arrest,” it says.
In total: 1,600 political prisoners - including five minors.
The opposition members are trying to continue fighting from exile.
Also ensuring that the memory of Europe's last dictatorship does not fade from the collective memory.
Tichanowskaja is touring Europe for this.
Poland, Finland, Austria, Switzerland, Bulgaria, this year alone.
Her husband Sergej is always with her, under her arm – as a black and white picture on her file folder.
“The voices of women,” says Tichanowskaya, “have made a decisive contribution to challenging autocracies.” The female spirit of resistance is a “beacon of hope,” not only in Belarus and Russia, but worldwide.
At the Munich Security Conference in February, Tichanowskaja will meet Jullija Navalnaya.
They hug each other.
United in pain.
United in resistance.