Full-scale freedom to Ukraine: A statement from Russian anti-war activists and their allies on the anniversary of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine

First published at statement.antiwar.in.

One year ago, Russian troops invaded Ukraine and began bombing peaceful cities. Before that, almost 9 years ago, Russia unleashed a war in Donbas and annexed Crimea. Tens of thousands of children and adults have already become victims of this carnage. Millions of people have abandoned their homes and, under bombardment, fled into the unknown. Russian shells are obliterating cities and destroying Ukrainian hospitals, schools, museums and power plants. There is no justification or forgiveness for these war crimes.

We, citizens of Russia and our allies, who are not giving up and continue to fight the Kremlin dictatorship, oppose the war unleashed in Ukraine and demand the complete withdrawal of Russian troops from its territory. We wish Ukraine a total and unconditional victory, the return of its sovereignty over all illegally occupied and annexed lands. We express boundless solidarity and support to the people of Ukraine and stand with them on the same side in the fight against the aggressor.

We are waging this fight in word and deed. We will continue to spread truthful information about Russia’s war crimes, provide assistance to Ukrainians who have suffered from the war, and support those of us who, despite political repression, resist the aggressor within Russia.

We must all rethink our history and take responsibility for all the invasions and acts of aggression that our country has committed in recent years. We see a fundamentally different future for Russia: democratic, peaceful and free. There is no place for aggression, imperialism and xenophobia in our Russia. Therefore, we oppose Putin’s regime and demand an international tribunal for all those involved in the war crimes and crimes of aggression.

Wherever we are - whether in Russia or in other countries - we share democratic values and are fighting against the criminal regime in Russia. We are ready to unite together with activists around the world and act together to defend human rights, to resist aggression, to overcome the consequences of the war and to reduce the influence of Putin’s regime on the world order.

We call on all Russians:

Let’s unite and help each other! We must keep resisting the regime together, support all forms of protest, change the minds of supporters of the war, help those who are in trouble because of the war and show solidarity by all means available and safe for us, let’s not be afraid to speak the truth! We urge Russians to refuse to participate in and help others to not take part in the criminal war and genocide of the Ukrainian people.

We turn to Ukrainians:

We grieve and feel together with you, we are on your side and we are making every effort to fight our common enemy; we admire your unequivocal commitment to freedom, your fortitude and your courage. We believe in your victory and will do everything possible to bring peace to your land as soon as possible!

The statement is supported by:

• Anti-war committee in Sweden "Russians Against War"
• Free Yakutia Foundation
• Danish Friends of Democratic Russia
• Comunità dei Russi Liberi
• Rusos Libres
• Free Russians Ireland
• Russian Democratic Society Serbia
• Comunità dei Russi Liberi
• Media Partisans
• Union of Mothers (Belarus)
• Youth Democratic Movement "Vesna"
• Future Russia - Switzerland
• Board of Norwegian community "Smårådina: For democracy in Russia"
• Cracow for a free Russia / Kraków za wolną Rosję
• Emigration for Action
• Boris Grozovski, EventsAndTexts
• Sergei Davidis, "Political Prisoners Support. Memorial"
• Sakharov Movement "Peace. Progress. Human Rights."
• Stefan Melle, Austausch – For a European Civil Society
• Allianz für ein freiheitlich-demokratisches Russland in Nürnberg
• Fedor Krasheninnikov
• Project "Let's return heat and light to Ukraine!", wfu.world
• Movement "Voice of Reason"
• Daria Serenko, Feminist Antiwar Resistance
• The Ark (Kovcheg) project
• School of Civic Education
• CISR e.V. Berlin
• frame
• Demokrati-JA
• Vse Odnoznachno
• Abubakar Yangulbaev
• PYL.MEDIA
• Human rights organization "School of conscript"
• Map of Peace
• Maxim Samolin
• Sasha Kosareva
• Lisa Wolfson, Demokrati-JA
• Margarita Shafranskaya, LGBT activist
• Oleg Lutohin
• Maxim Smolkin
• Aleksandra Ka
• Galina Selivanova
• Dmitriy Kolezev
• Vladimir Sakhnov
• Polina Simonenko
• Ronia R.
• Mikhail Potapov
• Anna Goriacheva
• Olga Efimova
• Angelica
• Pavel Nikolskii
• Incognito 12
• Damir Musin
• Evgenii Danilov
• Maya, peace activist, Moscow
• Pavel Kiselev
• Soyka NL
• Organizer of the Gdansk for a Free Russia group (a group of activists)
• Ckcpc.de
• Elena Krasnoyarskaya
• Elena Sobinova
• Olga Bukharskaya, PAK
• Independent historians Movement "Professor Putishenko"
• German Valaamskiy
• Marina Okhrimovskaya
• LGBT social movements
• Yury Gorelov, initiative DoPrace.org, Czechia
• Maxim Trudolyubov, journalist, editor
• Igor Eidman, Forum of Russian-speaking Europeans
• Yuri Nikitin
• Natascha Ivanova
• Anti ware group Haifa "Connect"
• Natalia Zubkova, project manager of the network of shelters "Quiet Place" in Georgia
• Polina Dolgova
• Andrei Suslov
• Denis Bilunov
• Anastasia Shevchenko, Russians against war (Vilnius)
• Opyt Svobody
• Evelina Gevorkyan, psychologist
• Anastasiia Prigoda
• Marina Maksakova
• Daria Elfimova
• Lidia Mikhalchenko
• Artem Vazhenkov
• Pavel Elizarov, Parus (Portugal)
• Russie-Libertés
• Mikhail Kuzovkov
• Evgeny Kavalerchik
• White-Blue-White Movement
• Maria Mikaelyan, Comunita' dei Russi liberi
• Alexandra Polivanova, Memorial Russia
• Интернет-журнал "Швейцария для всех"
• Anastasia Burakova, founder of The Ark project
• Mikhail Tumasov
• Mariia Solenova, wfu.world
• Daniil Pospelov
• Dmitry Isaev
• Action, правозащитная организация
• Edgar Mkrtchian
• Freies Russland NRW
• Iuliia Elfimova
• Ekaterina Ershova
• Supporting media "Achievable"
• Russian Democratic Society (UK)
• Pasha (Alma) Captanovska
• Kirill
• Екатерина Мартынова, редакторка DOXA
• Allianz für ein freicheitlich-demokratisches Russland - Nürnberg
• Anastasia
• Agnieszka Kaniewska
• NITKA media
• Elena Mazovetskaia
• Free Russians e.V Munich
• Evgenii Grishaev
• Igor Kochetkov
• Kristina Smolijaninovaite, EU-Russia Civil Society Forum e.V.
• Aidar Gubaidulin
• Podcast "Sudbi"
• Polina D‘Agostino, musician
• Free Russia NL
• Natalia Lemutkina
• Nina Belyavskaya
• Marina Todres
• Alina Talinkevich
• Natasha Borenko, theatre maker
• Sphere Foundation
• Bots against war
• Анатоль Гущин
• Feminist Antiwar Resistance
• Dmitriy Alexandrovich
• Kioshy Suzuki
• Nasya
• Belyakova Elena
• Eva Hamann
• Danijela Lugaric Vukas, Zagreb, Croatia
• Dzhei Alberg
• Vladimir
• Lubov Gurler
• Tatiana Chernysheva
• Dmitrii Domrachev
• Natalia
• Evgeny Belyaev
• Aleksandr Komarov
• American Russian-speaking Association for Civil & Human Rights (ARA)
• Nadia Pshenko

We know that we are supported by tens, perhaps even hundreds, of thousands of Russian citizens who cannot sign a letter like this because of the risk of reprisals, for the safety of their families and their ability to continue their anti-war, humanitarian and human rights work.