Russians continued, despite the repression, to lay flowers on an improvised memorial for the victims of the deadly bombardment nine days ago of a building in Dnipro, Ukraine, AFP journalists noted on Monday.
Since this strike which left 46 dead, attributed to Russian forces by kyiv, Russians have come to lay flowers, photographs and messages at the foot of the statue in Moscow of a Ukrainian poet, Lessia Oukrainka, thus setting up a makeshift memorial to the victims.
Recidivism despite arrests
Unidentified people cleaned the monument several times, and police made arrests, but the tributes continued.
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Present at the memorial on Monday morning, AFP journalists saw a woman laying flowers in front of the police in a car, while other bouquets were already placed at the foot of the statue.
Testimonials
“I express my feelings about this disaster as best I can. I want to express my sympathy, offer my condolences to the people who are currently suffering“, explained to AFP Elena Ivanova, a 63-year-old mathematician, after having deposited her bouquet of yellow chrysanthemums, having bowed and signed. “There is no other option. It’s the only way to express my protest, after all“, she says.
Alexander Voloshin, a 40-year-old tourist guide, stood in front of the monument for several minutes, taking off his hat. “I follow the information. And as soon as I saw the pictures showing flowers being brought to the memorial a week ago I decided to go and the next day I did“, he says. “I really wanted to take pictures and see for myself that Muscovites sympathize and show empathy. Let there be a memorial dedicated to victims in Ukraine, to Ukrainians, empathy for them“, he adds.
Observing that he “had lots of flowers (Saturday) and not many now“, he castigates the Russian authorities, who “fight against this sympathy, against people“. He says he hasa lot of friendsin Ukraine and that he isimportant for them to know that there is sympathy, that there is a kind of protest against this nightmare“.
Rare public protests
Public demonstrations against the offensive in Ukraine are very rare in Russia, in a context of all-out repression. Criticizing the Russian army is punishable by imprisonment in Russia.
According to the NGO OVD-Info, nearly 20,000 people have been arrested in Russia during rallies against the intervention in Ukraine since its launch on February 24, 2022.