On 1 March, five people who were picketing next to the Federation Council building against the invasion of Ukraine were arrested.[6] The next day about 200 people protested at the building of the Russian Ministry of Defense in Moscow against Russian military involvement.[7] About 500 people also gathered to protest on theManezhnaya Square in Moscow and the same number of people on theSaint Isaac's Square in Saint Petersburg.[8] On 2 March, about eleven protesters demonstrated inYekaterinburg against Russian involvement, with some wrapped in the Ukrainian flag.[9] On 15 March, for a rally in support of Ukraine inYekaterinburg, according to various sources, between 400 and 600 people left,[10][11] including the Mayor of the cityYevgeny Roizman. Protests were also held inChelyabinsk on the same day.[12] The opposition to the military intervention was also expressed by rock musicianAndrey Makarevich, who wrote in particular: "You want war with Ukraine? It will not be the wayit was with Abkhazia: the folks on the Maidan have been hardened and know what they are fighting for – for their country, their independence. [...] We have to live with them. Still neighborly. And preferably in friendship. But it's up to them how they want to live".[13] The Professor of the Department of Philosophy at theMoscow State Institute of International RelationsAndrey Zubov was fired for his article inVedomosti, criticizing Russian military intervention.[14]
On 2 March, one Moscow resident protested against Russian intervention by holding "Stop the war" banner, but he was immediately harassed by passers-by and when the police was arresting him, a woman offered to fabricate a serious charge (beating up a child) against him; however, the proposal was rejected by the police.[15] Andrei Zubov, a professor at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, who compared Russian actions in Crimea to theAnschluss of Austria, was threatened. Alexandr Chuyev, the leader of the pro-Kremlin Spravedlivaya Rossiya party, also objected to Russian intervention in Ukraine.Boris Akunin, popular Russian writer, predicted that Russia's moves would lead to political and economic isolation.[15]
Protests against the Russian intervention also occurred outside Russian embassies inLondon,Berlin,Vilnius andAnkara on 2 March.[16]
Another anti-war rally with about 5,000 to 20,000 demonstrators took place onPushkinskaya Square in Moscow on 21 September 2014.[1]The Washington Post reported that "tens of thousands" protested the war in Ukraine with a peace march in downtown Moscow "under heavy police supervision".[19] There were minor scuffles with pro-Russian supporters, but no serious violence or arrests were reported.[20] About a thousand people also gathered outside theKazan Cathedral inSaint Petersburg to protest againstRussia's involvement in Ukraine.[21]
Thousands of people around the world supported this event by holding anti-war demonstrations on the same day. In the US, San Francisco, New York, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, Seattle, Houston and Boston took part in the protest activities.[22]
On 19 March 2014, the anti-war congress of Russian intelligentsia took place in Moscow.[23] The memorandum issued by the Congress proclaims:
We, the representatives of the Russian intelligentsia feel ourselves obliged to warn the authorities from making historical mistake – the desire to take control of a part of Ukraine, the country which was considered as a brotherly one.
On 19 March 2014, a group of Russian scientists published an open letter to theRussian Ministry of Communications. The letter demanded the Ministry to check the television programs ofDmitry Kiselev for signs of extremism and incitement of ethnic hatred.[24]
.jpg)
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg)
%2c_occupation_of_the_Crimea_is_a_shame_of_Russia.jpg)
.jpg)
.svg)
