We don’t want this’: Russians react to the Ukraine invasion

© Provided by The Guardian Photograph: Gavriil Grigorov/Tass

At the Ukrainian culture centre just down the road, the mood was even grimmer.

The Ukrainian administrator said the centre, which aims to promote the language, traditions and identity of a country Vladimir Putin denied the legitimacy of as a modern state in his speech on Monday, would be shut for the “coming period”.

“We are being bombed as we speak. Of course we are closed! Jesus, what is happening?” the administrator, who did not want to give his name, shouted.

© Thomson Reuters A woman places flowers outside the Ukrainian embassy after Russia launched a massive military operation against Ukraine, in Moscow, Russia February 24, 2022. REUTERS/Evgenia NovozheninaJust a day earlier, Ukraine advised its estimated 3 million citizens living in Russia to leave the country immediately, throwing the lives of many Ukrainians in Moscow into disarray

There were already signs that Russians were uncomfortable with Putin’s initial decision to recognise the two self-proclaimed republics in Donbas.

On Tuesday, Yuri Dudt, one of Russia’s most popular media personalities, said he “did not vote for this regime” and its need for an empire and felt ashamed, in a post that received almost a million likes in 24 hours.

A fresh poll by the independent Levada Center released on Thursday showed that only 45% of Russians stood in favour of the recognition move that preceded Thursday morning’s dramatic events.

“I didn’t think Putin would be willing to go all the way. How can we bomb Ukraine? Our countries have their disagreements, but this is not a way to solve them,” said Muscovite Ksenia.

But outcries of anger were not only felt on the streets of Moscow, where the Guardian did not encounter support for the military assault.

Russia’s cultural and sporting elite, usually firmly behind Putin and often called upon by the president during election campaigns to gather popular support, also expressed their deep worries about Russia’s invasion.

© Thomson Reuters Russian Army military vehicles drive along a street, after Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized a military operation in eastern Ukraine, in the town of Armyansk, Crimea, February 24, 2022. REUTERS/StringerValery Meladze, arguable the country’s most beloved singer, posted an emotional video in which “begged” Russia to stop the war.

“Today something happened that should have never happened. History will be the judge of these events. But today, I beg you, please stop the war.”

Likewise, Russian football international Fyodor Smolov posted on his Instagram channel: “No to War!!!”

US intelligence for months warned that Russia would seek to fabricate a major pretext before launching an invasion of Ukraine.

In the end, no major false flag came, and experts now believe that Putin decided to act without gathering the backing of his own electorate.

“Putin seems totally indifferent to approval on the street. He’s acting not like a politician in need of public support, but like a figure from national history books who cares only about the approval of future historians and readers,” tweeted Alexander Baunov, a political analyst at the Carnegie Moscow Center.

© ASSOCIATED PRESS A man stands in front of a Russian Ka-52 helicopter gunship is seen in the field after a forced landing outside Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. Russia on Thursday unleashed a barrage of air and missile strikes on Ukrainian facilities across the country. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)The Russian leader looked to have also surprised some of Russia’s most prominent oligarchs, who saw their wealth tumble as the country’s financial markets collapsed.

Just on Monday, after Putin recognised the independence of the two Donbas territories, Oleg Deripaska, a Kremlin-friendly oligarch who once said that “he does not separate himself from the Russian state”, exclaimed on his Telegram channel that “war had been averted”. He has since deleted the post.

As the invasion news settled in, people in Moscow began circulating posts online urging others to “go on a walk” on Thursday evening, a phrase used to describe protests that have been outlawed since the start of the pandemic.

But in a country where a single picket protest can land you in jail, and which saw an unprecedented crackdown on the opposition in the last few years, it remains a question to what extent Russians will be able and willing to take to streets to show their opposition to the bloody conflict. A notable police presence was seen at Red Square and Pushkin Square, places known to host protests.

For Ukrainians, the apparent public opposition to the war and messages of support will come too late. The country has said that at least 40 soldiers have already been killed with many more civilians injured, as it is threatened with being overrun by a much larger military force.

Yet, sensing that a genuine large-scale pushback against war might be Ukraine’s best bet, Volodomyr Zelenskiy, Ukraine’s president, on Thursday morning urged Russians to speak up.

“If the Russian authorities don’t want to sit down with us to discuss peace, maybe they will sit down with you.

—The Guardian