Russian Mothers

The picture above dates back to the Chechen war when Russian Mothers searched for their sons which were lost in the war.  Many who had been conscripted as teenagers.  Russian mothers have actively opposed the draft especially when raw draftees serve on the frontline of war. Russia has repeated itself with the attack on Ukraine.

In Russia there is a Committee of Soldiers' Mothers of Russia that was created in 1989 and stepped up in 1995. They held anti-war vigils and confronted and negotiated with Russian Military Commanders.  Their intervention in the war zone resulted in dozens of soldiers being released. In February of that year they held a conference called "For life and Freedom" where 200 participants participated. They lead a march and a petition where they collected signatures against the government's war. In April with the help of Anatoli Shabad, a member of Parliament they wrote a statement about the atrocities they witnessed in Samashki with the killing of women and children.  They continued on with their March and education, networking and support of anti-war groups until the war ended in 1996.

Today they are reporting a similar situation in Ukraine.  Since the Ukraine fulfils the Geneva convention they report and publish the names of those that are dead or captured and through friends and journalists the Committee is securing these lists with no help from Russia. They tried to stop the aggression with Ukraine back in 2014 when the war started in Donbas but the world did not listen to them. 

It is mothers like these Russian women that need to take a stand again.  Mothers against war will help end the madness.