'Send back our husbands' - Russian women in rare protest - BBC News

A group of Russian women are making rare public demands for reservists to return from the front line.

1 day agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingRelated TopicsWar in UkraineImage caption, Wives of reservists say their husbands have done their fair share of the fighting and want them back homeBy Steve RosenbergRussia editor, MoscowIn a function room on the edge of Moscow, something unusual is happening.

A group of women are publicly criticising the Russian authorities. Their husbands are among the 300,000 reservists mobilised by Russian President Vladimir Putin for the war in Ukraine in autumn 2022.

And they want them home.

"When will our husbands be considered to have discharged their military duty?" asks Maria. "When they're brought back with no arms and legs? When they can't do anything at all because they're just vegetables? Or do we have to wait for them to be sent back in zinc coffins?"

The women met via social media and have formed a group called The Way Home. They have differing views on the war. Some claim to support it. Others are sceptical about the Kremlin's "special military operation". What seems to unite them is the belief that the mobilised men have done their fair share of the fighting and should be back home with their families.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-68056939?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

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