We—Russia—want to be a nation of peace. Alas, few would call us that now.
But let us at least not become a nation of frightened, silent people. Cowards pretending not to notice the aggressive war unleashed against Ukraine by our clearly deranged little tsar.
I cannot, do not want to, and will not stay silent as pseudo-historical nonsense about events from 100 years ago has become the pretext for Russians to kill Ukrainians, and for Ukrainians, defending themselves, to kill Russians.
It is the 2020s, and we are watching news reports about people burning inside tanks and homes reduced to rubble by bombing. We are watching on television very real threats to start a nuclear war.
I am from the USSR (the Soviet Union). I was born there. And the main phrase from that time—from my childhood—was “the struggle for peace.” I call on everyone to take to the streets and fight for peace.
Putin is not Russia. And if there is anything in Russia today to be most proud of, it is the 6,835 people who were detained because—without any call from above—they took to the streets with signs saying “No to war.”
They say that no one should call for a protest rally if they will not go themselves and do not risk being arrested. I am already in prison, so I think I can.
We cannot wait a single day. Wherever you are. In Russia, Belarus, or on the other side of the planet. Go to your city’s main square every weekday at 19:00 and at 14:00 on weekends and holidays.
If you can organize a march, do it on the weekend. Yes, on the first day only a few people may come out. And on the second—even fewer. But we must, gritting our teeth and overcoming our fear, keep coming out and demanding an end to the war.
For every person arrested, two more must take their place.
If—so that the war may end—we must fill the prisons and the police vans used to transport detainees, then we will fill the prisons and those vans with our bodies.
Everything has a price, and now, in the spring of 2022, we are the ones who must pay it. There is no one else. Let us not merely “be against the war.” Let us fight against the war.