Russia’s Council of Mothers and Wives social media page blocked by authorities

The Council of Mothers and Wives had their online page on VK (Russian social media network) blocked on orders from the Prosecutor General’s office, Taiga.Info reports.

When attempting to open the page, a message pops up that says the decision was made in line with the demand from the Russian Prosecutor General’s office issued on 26 November 2022.

Relatives of Russian draftees founded the Council of Mothers and Wives in November after an appeal from Samara resident Olga Tsukanova who was trying to prevent her conscripted son from being sent to Ukraine. The organisation now unites women from 89 Russian cities.

On 14 November, members staged a protest rally in front of the Western Military District headquarters in St. Petersburg, demanding to launch talks with Ukraine, reject the use of nuclear weapons, bring back conscripted men from the Belgorod region, and investigate cases of unlawful draft or sending conscripts to the frontlines.

The women are complaining that authorities are putting pressure on them and tracking them.

In late November, Russian President Valdimir Putin held a meeting with mothers of servicemen who are fighting in the war with Ukraine, draftees, contract soldiers, and volunteers. The Committee of Soldier Mothers and the Council of Mothers and Wives said that their representatives were not invited to the meeting, while Putin only had to face convenient women with convenient questions.

Agentstvo News pointed out that 17 women attended the meeting. The Mozhem Obyasnit Telegram channel identified some of them. Putin shared the table with United Russia member of parliament Olga Beltseva, head of the Moscow region executive committee of the All-Russia People’s Front Yulia Belekhova, and regional coordinator of humanitarian aid for draftees Nadezhda Uzunova.