"I'm not afraid, I went out alone," Stanislav wrote on Twitter, in a message accompanying a photo of him protesting on a street in his city, Azov, in Rostov Oblast (western Russia).
In the hands of this 30-year-old Russian, a sign on which is written "#НЕТВОЙНЕ" ("no war"), in large black letters.
Because no, not all Russians agree with what is happening in Ukraine.
And although it remains a minority in its public expression due to repression, the anti-war movement mobilizes on the Internet, mainly through social networks and encrypted messaging services such as Telegram and Signal.
On Twitter, the hashtag #ЯпротивВойны ("I am against the war") was also at the top of trends in Russia on Tuesday March 1.
"This has been the case since the start of the war," Stanislav told France 24.
Я не боюсь, вышел один #ЯпротивВойны pic.twitter.com/hUkeW0qkhT
— Stanislav (@tanchu_sam) February 28, 2022
Faced with repression, the choice of discretion
Of course, in Russia, the mobilization seems more present behind the screens, because in the country of Vladimir Putin, demonstrating on the pavement his opposition to the war, it is taking the risk of being arrested and condemned.
Witness the figures published daily by the NGO OVD-Info, an independent Russian media project for the defense of human rights aimed at combating political persecution.
Contacted by France 24, the NGO specifies that it does not carry out a count of the participants in the rallies against the war, but that of the people who are arrested there.
Almost a week after the start of the Russian invasion, the figures are already significant.
“We have never seen such a number of detainees per day,” explains Grigory Durnovo, analyst for OVD-Info.
"We counted at least 6,489 detainees in five days. This is enough to show us the number of people ready to come out in the streets and express their point of view."
More than 3,100 arrests in Moscow, more than 2,000 in Saint Petersburg, a hundred in Yekaterinburg, and a few dozen in other less populated cities in the country, said a Facebook post from the NGO on Tuesday.
The repression does not prevent thousands of Russians from defying the law to show their rejection of the war, but in this country of some 144 million inhabitants, the vast majority of those who oppose the war prefer to profile low.
A phenomenon that Grigory Durnovo justifies by the wave of repression observed in 2021 against civil society in Russia, and the criminal proceedings brought against people who participated in the demonstrations at the start of 2022. "This really had a significant impact on people, they have become calmer," he told France 24.
Police detain a protester during a rally against the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in central Saint Petersburg, February 24, 2022. © Sergei Mikhailichenko, AFP
Twitter, Signal, Telegram... the rear bases of the anti-war movement
Very often ruled by fear, the protesters therefore find ways to demonstrate their opposition to the war while remaining under the radar.
"Contacts between protesters are mainly on Twitter and Telegram," says Stanislav, who depicts above all solidarity networks.
On these groups, the members share information from independent media (in particular from the online television channel Dojd), relay actions and petitions, but also support the demonstrators arrested by the police.
"We help them pay the fines, and we also find lawyers to help them," he adds.
Depending on the charges, specifies OVD-Info on its site, the risks incurred by the demonstrators range "from 2,000 to 300,000 rubles in fines (from 17 to more than 2,500 euros, Editor's note) and up to 30 days of detention".
Unable to rely on the transparency of the official media concerning the demonstrations, OVD-Info receives information directly from the field and from the detainees themselves.
"They call us through our helpline number or send messages to our Telegram bot," says Grigory Durnovo.
"We ask them to tell us the number of detainees in a police bus or in a police station, their names, the name of the city, and any other significant information, such as possible cases of violence."
This information is cross-checked and enriched with other sources of information, adds the analyst, referring to independent media and Telegram channels, and to a lesser extent the statements of police officials (which must be compared with the data recovered Moreover).
"The 'official media' sometimes mention the anti-war protests, but very briefly, and we can't use them as a source because they don't tell the whole story."
Sometimes we can quote the number of detainees from the statements of police officials, comparing it with our data.
A petition collects more than a million signatures
In addition to the NGOs, groups of citizens try to carry the voice of the "anti-war", taking advantage of their profession or their notoriety, with the help of social networks or by finding support in the independent media.
Numerous petitions and open letters have been circulating since the beginning of the conflict: Russian lawyers highlight Russia's violation of the United Nations Charter;
translators from Ukrainian or Russian into English lament that "the Russian regime is trying to justify the military 'attack' by falsifying history and distorting the meaning of key cultural and historical concepts";
on YouTube, Russian scientists have posted a video to demonstrate their opposition to the war.
But the most significant initiative remains the petition entitled "Stop the war with Ukraine!", launched by Lev Ponomarev, a Russian political activist committed to the defense of human rights.
The text, which calls on Russian citizens to say "no" to war, exceeded one million signatures on Tuesday.
The petition calls in particular for "an immediate ceasefire of the Russian armed forces and their immediate withdrawal from the territory of the sovereign state of Ukraine".
According to Lev Ponomarev, if one million signatures are gathered, it means that tens of millions of people are opposed to the war against Ukraine, given the difficulties or even the impossibility for many Russians to access the Internet.
"On the Internet, restrictions can be circumvented"
On social networks, many messages testify both to the vigor of some Russians in demonstrating their opposition to the war and to the government, and to their reluctance to proclaim it in the streets.
"In the West, foreigners are writing on social media 'It's up to the Russians to stop the dictator', but how the hell? This monster will crush any protest," read the comments under a Facebook post.
"My friends went out to demonstrate in Moscow today with placards. Nobody joined them", regrets another Internet user, before ironically in another message: "You have to go out to sing Ukrainian songs: choral singing n is not banned yet!"
Demonstrating opposition to the decisions of the Russian government seems indeed much less risky on the Internet than in the street, despite the efforts of the Russian authorities to try to control and censor certain online resources.
In an attempt to silence dissenting voices, which are very present on the Web, the authorities have threatened to impose fines on several Russian independent media or to block them if they do not remove certain publications on the war in Ukraine, the official said. NGO Human Rights Watch on Tuesday, worrying about the sharp increase in censorship.
For a few days, Facebook and Twitter have also been in the sights of Roskomnadzor, the communications policeman in Russia, which now limits their access.
However, as Stanislav points out, "on the Internet, restrictions can be circumvented".
Many online resources remain accessible in particular by using a VPN (virtual private network), the use of which is very widespread.
"The VPN passes traffic through servers in a country other than Russia, where certain sources of information may be blocked," adds the Azov anti-war activist.
However, he cannot be satisfied with this rear base, and even if he is alone each time – his friends being afraid to demonstrate with him in broad daylight – he says he wants to continue to take the risk of going out in the street.
Because Stanislav is convinced: "Protesting only on the Internet cannot achieve much."
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