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More than 20,000 people took to the streets in Moscow (above) and 5,000 in St. Petersburg (inset) Sept. 21 to protest the Russian government’s military intervention in Ukraine. Marchers carried Ukrainian and Russian flags, pictures of Russian soldiers killed fighting in Ukraine, and signs reading, “I don’t want a war with Ukraine” and “[Russian President Vladimir] Putin, I’m sick of your lies.” Smaller actions took place in Saratov, Perm, Petrozavodsk, Syktyvkar, Barnaul, Yekaterinburg and Novosibirsk, Siberia. Solidarity actions were held in Kiev and Kharkiv, Ukraine; Paris; London; Vancouver, Canada; New York; San Francisco; Houston; and other cities. Moscow claims it has no troops in Ukraine. The Putin government’s policy toward Ukraine has broad support in Russia, built on relentless propaganda in state-run media portraying “rebels” in the east of Ukraine defending Russian-speaking residents from slaughter by a fascist government in Kiev. “This march is to show the people that there’s quite a number of people who are against the war and don’t think that most Ukrainians are fascists,” Mikhail Garder, 28, told the press at the march in Moscow. “The government knows that. The people don’t.” |
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| — JOHN STUDER |