The women taking on Putin, one flower at a time .
A growing number of women in Russia are protesting the fact their husbands and sons have been called up to fight in Ukraine.
The group, led by Maria Andreyeva, are risking the ire of the Kremlin by holding weekly gatherings.
Each Saturday she dons her white scarf and heads to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow to protest her husband's prolonged absence on the battlefield in Ukraine.
"I simply no longer want my husband to give precious years of his life to the army of the Russian Federation, which — I'm sorry — will not take care of us after."
It's an act of defiance in a country where dissent is crushed on a daily basis, particularly when it relates to President Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine.
Tensions are even higher than usual in Russia, following the death in custody of opposition politician Alexei Navalny in the lead-up to this month's presidential election.
Speaking out against any aspect of Putin's war in Ukraine is highly risky in Russia. But the mothers and wives of mobilised soldiers are granted liberties that other protesters don't get, explains
Ekaterina Schulmann, a Russian political scientist at the Carnegie Centre in Berlin.
"You can't beat up a group of women, especially women whose husbands are on the front line."
"Even the Nazis tolerated the protest of the wives of Jewish husbands who were to be deported. It was the one single case of public political protest in Nazi Germany — the famous wives of the Rosenstrasse."
It's far harder for authorities to crack down on the women attending these protests than if they were the actions of students or Navalny supporters.
"They possess a certain moral capital which no one else has. You can't say that they are Western agents. They are in a sense, supporting traditional family values. They want their husbands back," she said. "There is a palpable, evident injustice in the way their husbands were treated. They agreed to be mobilised almost a year-and-a-half ago, and now they are still there on the frontline."
The women had become bolder with their messaging in recent months and it resonates with many people. "During the months that this movement became active, the popularity of the SMO has sharply declined. We may now state, based on various polling data, that by the end of 2023, the core militaristic support base has shrunk to 10 to 12 per cent."
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