Version imprimableAs precarious and weak as this resistance is, it does not mean it is impotent and even less that the rejection of Putin is not a reality working underground in the Russian population.
The effects of the war are weighing on broad sections of the population, and our internationalist responsibility is to support all those who seek to shape an alternative to Russian neo-fascism.
A conscription that does not say its name
Desertion, prison or exile are the only ways to avoid a conscription that does not say its name. While participation in the war now allows Russian soldiers to obtain salaries that are on average 8 times higher than the average in the country, the risk to their lives remains enormous. With estimates of 30,000 deaths per month on the frontline, fighting for Putin’s war means taking a serious option for the cemetery.
This tension can be seen in the contractual conditions of the soldiers: it is impossible to leave the army or to terminate your contract; you never know where you will be posted; soldiers’ identity documents are confiscated on arrival in order to prevent them from leaving the country.
Soldiers are recruited at the time of military service (at 18 years of age). The young men are offered a contract to go to the front. If they refuse, they are sent to the most critical areas of the occupied territories (Zaporizhzhia, Kherson) that the government considers to be Russian territories.
In practice, this amounts to compulsory conscription, aimed primarily at the most precarious young people in small towns, attracted by high salaries and unable to obtain an exemption. The conditions in which soldiers work are particularly harsh, subject to a command that did not hesitate to massively sacrifice their lives and to exercise physical and psychological torture in the event of disobedience.
Desertion and political opposition
The figures for the desertion of soldiers are an explicit sign of this tension: between 30,000 and 40,000 in 2023 alone, according to Yuri Fedorov. A counter-propaganda site, “A Farewell to Arms” has been created by young exiled deserters, broadcasting content via Telegram and Youtube channels to encourage Russian soldiers to desert.
Recently, three Russian opposition figures in exile were able to speak in the European Parliament. Yulia Navalnaya (Alexander Navalny’s widow), Vladimir Kara-Murza and Ilya Yashin (both close to Boris Nemtsov, assassinated in 2015), sentenced to long prison terms for criticizing Putin’s war in Ukraine, made strong speeches. They insisted on the existence of a broad opposition to Putin in Russia, but which does not find space to express itself. Being engaged in propaganda work in Russia, they said the best thing to do to help the Russian opposition was to support the Ukrainians.
Fighting Putin’s far-right
The alignment of the United States with Russia only makes the matter more urgent, with the danger posed by the pro-Putin European far-right forces. These are on the rise across the continent and are fully aligned with Putin’s and Trump’s strategies. This internal destabilization is the most serious threat to the peoples of Europe. From this point of view, it is particularly worrying to see currents of the European left claiming to be fighting the far right, while aligning themselves with the latter’s discourse when it comes to Putin.
12 June 2025
Translated by International Viewpoint from l’Anticapitaliste.https://lanticapitaliste.org/actualite/international/soutenir-la-resistance-russo-ukrainienne-contre-la-fascisation-acceleree-du
