Strict instructions had been issued. Do not disclose the location of the meeting, communicated at the last moment, do not tweet; present an identity document at the entrance without saying your name out loud; wait forty-eight hours before publishing anything. With these precautions, the “Congress of Antiwar Initiatives”, which was held in Brussels on Monday November 27, supported by the European Union (EU) and the German Foreign Ministry, brought together some 250 Russian citizens engaged in actions against the invasion of Ukraine and the “dictatorship” of the Kremlin.
Small clandestine streams of resistance acting, some to come to the aid of deserters, some to assist the increasing number of political prisoners, some to rescue Ukrainians seeking to flee Russia. In exile or from “inside”, these “volunteers”, as they describe themselves, have formed informal networks each of which measures the risks.
“There are ten of us, four outside, six in Russia, and we only use encrypted communication channels”, testifies Ania Kourbateva, 33 years old. Hair dyed a deep green, this painter who has taken refuge in Germany since September now devotes all her time to her group. Called “Defense Zone”, it provides legal support to Russians prosecuted for anti-war actions.
“As peaceful protests have almost all disappeared, others, harsher, have appeared, fires of recruitment centers, sabotage of railway lines… And their perpetrators are even less well protected,” explains the young woman. But the means are lacking. “We launched spontaneously at the start of the war, we could not imagine that, almost two years later, we would still be theresighs Ania Kourbateva. Today we support sixteen people; more, we couldn’t. »
Slender silhouette and determined look, Grigori Sverdline animates “Go through the forest”, which, in Russian, can also mean “Get out of the way”. Specializing in helping deserters and “all those who do not want to fight”this network was formed after the “partial” mobilization decreed by Vladimir Putin in September 2022. “Today we “celebrate” our 2004e customer “says with bitterness this former head of an association for the homeless, who left from Saint Petersburg, and against whom a criminal investigation has just been opened in Russia.
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