As Russian aggression against Ukraine continues, protests are now erupting in favor of Ukraine all over the world.
Meanwhile, the Russian president is oppressing voices in his country both domestically and at the policy level, hence going to lengths to kill counter-narratives.
Protests against Russia goes worldwide
Over the weekend, the global citizenry protested, ranging from Japan to Washington D.C, raising slogans like “Stop War, Stop Putin,” “No War,” and others.
A Russian American in Washington D.C, Aliya Passova, demonstrated in New York City on Saturday that Russians do not want war, but Putin does.
He was among hundreds of demonstrators gathered at Times Square over the weekend to express solidarity with Ukrainians while holding Ukraine flags.
Another Russian named Roman spoke to the New York Post during the protests, claiming his family back home is in trouble, due to Putin’s war-mongering policies.
According to him, he does not like what is happening in the region currently, adding “Russia is not Putin.” Apart from New York City, protests against Putin also erupted in Washington D.C and Atlanta.
Meanwhile, Spain, Germany, England, Italy, Switzerland, Taiwan, and Greece were some of the other countries where the anti-Putin narrative is building over time, calling for the Russian president to end this war immediately.
49-year old Ukrainian Yulia Kolorova in Taiwan asserted her friends and family are sheltering in basements of their houses, due to the pervasiveness of Russian air attacks, adding that seeing missiles flying over one’s head is a dreadful thing to imagine.
Even Russians living under the autocratic rule of Putin are stepping forward to protests against their president at a time the government is busy curbing these voices by force.
According to the Human Rights Group OVD-Info, over 3,000 Russians were detained between Thursday and Sunday.
Associated Press also took photos of a police crackdown against Russian protesters in the capital city of Moscow and St. Petersburg.
At least 829 detained at antiwar protests in Russia today. The numbers don't seem that impressive, but consider that people are coming out for the 4th day now despite facing almost certain arrest & having no way to coordinate or even gather in one spot pic.twitter.com/CWiElr5EaW
— Alec Luhn (@ASLuhn) February 27, 2022
Putin curbing voices of top Russian officials on Ukraine
However, the general population is not alone in denouncing Putin’s belligerency.
In fact, the Director of Foreign Intelligence Service of Russia Sergey Naryshkin disagreed with Putin to his face during a top meeting last week.
The Russian president was asking the opinion of his team members, one by one, whether or not they agree with the independence of the self-proclaimed Republics of Ukraine.
When Naryshkin’s turn came, he recommended to Putin the West should be given the last ultimatum, to which Putin interrupted him immediately, asking him whether Russia should start negotiations again.
The spy chief of the country went blank for a moment, muttering “yes,” and then “no” as he became clueless about what was happening.
In case you wonder whether the Russian intelligence community is afraid of speaking their mind in front of Putin.
Sergei Naryshkin, chief of the Foreign Intelligence Service, tried to say there could be ways to avoid war at the security council meeting. pic.twitter.com/2k96uJyHU7
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) February 22, 2022
The official started clarifying he supports the annexation of the independent republics, to which Putin cut him off once again, inquiring if he really supports the independence of these republics.
Finally, the spy chief made a quick U-turn and told the president that yes, he does recognize their independence, after which Putin allowed him to take his seat.
