Rush solidarity to arrested Russian socialist anti-war protesters

Anti-war protester seized in Moscow on Pushkinskaya Square on 24 February (Pic: Natalia Budantseva)

The Russian authorities have detained Rozalia Jamalova and Daria Sharkova, socialist opponents of the war in Ukraine. They were seized along with other protesters at an anti-war rally on Sunday in Nizhny Novgorod for shouting slogans against the invasion of Ukraine.

The Russian government is cracking down on the anti-war movement because it is growing to become a serious social factor. On Sunday protests took place in at least 49 cities including the port city of Vladivostok and the Siberian city of Irkutsk, according to the OVD-Info project, a  Russian human rights monitoring group.

Since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, activists have organised demonstrations in more than 100 cities and at least 12,000 people have been detained, the group said. People gathered on Sunday in a range of places in their cities in an effort to avoid mass arrests. But despite that police detained around 3,500 people across Russia according to the interior ministry. 

About 1,700 were seized at a demonstration of many thousands in Moscow and 750 in St Petersburg. A video posted on social media showed a protester on a square in the far eastern city of Khabarovsk shouting, “No to war—how are you not ashamed?” before two police detained him.

The day before, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a new law into effect that calls for sentences of up to 15 years in prison for people who distribute “false news” about the Russian military.

It is crucial to stand with all those arrested and rush messages of solidarity. Rozalia Jamalova and Daria Sharkova are part of a global movement that is saying no to the invasion of Ukraine but is also against all imperialist manoeuvres.

Already hundreds of trade ­unionists and campaigners have sent solidarity messages to those facing repression.
They include all the elected officials of People Before Profit in Ireland, the Bfawu union in Britain and anti-war campaigners from Britain, Canada, the US, Australia, Ireland, Turkey, Germany, France and Denmark.

• It is presently very difficult to communicate securely with Russian anti-war activists. Please send messages of support for Rozalia Jamalova and Daria Sharkova to [email protected] They will be forwarded safely to the support campaign. Messages from anti-war campaigns in Europe and the US and trade unions are particularly valuable.
• To read articles from the Socialist Tendency in Russia about the anti-war movement go here