The following editorial is from the editorial board of The Washington Post:Near the end of the Feb. 24 announcement of a “special military operation” in Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin of Russia appealed to the public to “take a consolidated, patriotic position.” Instead, many Russians have expressed skepticism and opposition to a war they neither wanted nor were consulted about. When television editor Marina Ovsyannikova unfurled a sign declaring “No war” on a live state news broadcast, the sentiment was already spreading widely.
A huge slice of Russia’s population is passive, for now, realizing there are risks to speaking out. But a surprising number are doing so. So far, 14,980 have been detained for demonstrating against the war, according to OVD-Info, a nongovernmental organization that tracks protests and arrests. In Moscow, a woman standing before the city’s majestic cathedral holding a sign that said “The Sixth Commandment, Thou Shalt Not Kill” was reportedly hustled away by police. Protests have erupted in more than 100 cities.
Thousands of Russian scientists, journalists and scholars have also signed protest letters. One open letter from scientists and science journalists has nearly 8,000 signatures. “War with Ukraine is a step to nowhere,” they declared. Russia has “doomed itself to international isolation. It has devolved into a pariah country,” they added, meaning that scientists will no longer be able to cooperate with colleagues abroad. At St. Petersburg University, 2,657 students and staff signed an open letter against the war. A “‘special military operation’ is a war,” they said. “Carrying out a ‘special military operation’ is an act of aggression. War is an absolute evil.”
At the same time, tens of thousands of Russian professionals — technology specialists, journalists, scholars and others — have fled the country in recent weeks, a debilitating brain drain.
Mr. Putin’s security services are working overtime to suppress the protests. Many of those arrested have reported beatings and harsh treatment in jail. The government has censored the press and closed social media. It is not clear whether public opposition to the war will influence Mr. Putin, but in a bitter speech Wednesday, he vowed that “self-purification of the society” would rid Russia of “traitors.” But Russians are not meekly accepting his war or being silenced. They have flocked to virtual private networks to get around Internet censors.
Opposition leader Alexei Navalny, unjustly imprisoned last year, was put on trial again Tuesday at Correctional Colony No. 2 in the town of Pokrov in Russia’s Vladimir region. In oral arguments and closing statements, he delivered defiant statements. The result of the war, he said, “will be a breakdown, the collapse of our country.” He said Mr. Putin and his cronies are “just a group of sick, crazy old men. They don’t have sympathy for anyone or anything. And our country is the very last thing they care about. Their only motherland is their Swiss bank accounts. And whatever they say about patriotism is a myth — as well as an enormous threat to us all. It’s actually clear what we need to do. It’s every person’s duty right now to oppose the war.”
