Tiny graffiti, ephemeral ribbons or discreet vandalism: in Moscow, furtive calls to end the conflict in Ukraine are multiplying, discreetly breaking the omerta imposed by power on opponents of the Russian assault on its neighbor.
“Today, we can’t stay away! Write, speak, don’t keep silent about the war!”, proclaims this sentence engraved with a knife in the wood of a snow-covered public bench in the center of the capital. Russian.
Words punishable by heavy prison sentences.
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Censorship is such that even those “peace for the world” stickers that appear on the doors of the Moscow metro can be seen as sedition or an attempt to discredit the military.
Even more cryptic, these green ribbons tied to tree branches, fences or lampposts. What does this have to do with conflict? Green is the result of mixing yellow and blue, the colors of the Ukrainian flag.
Small acts of resistance that may seem ridiculous, if not for those Russians who are already in prison.
Like Alexandra Skotchilenko, arrested in April 2022 for replacing labels in a Saint Petersburg supermarket with pacifist slogans.
She faces ten years in a penitentiary.
02/22/2023 19:07:53 – Moscow (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
