As the year draws to a close, Russia’s motley landscape of civil rights defenders, election monitors, environmental campaigners, anti-war activists and others is more beleaguered than ever before. Confronted with the increasingly oppressive machinery of the Russian state, scores of activists and the organizations to which they belong have gone into survival mode, with many forced into exile abroad, where they strive to continue their work. The first year of Russia’s invasion saw an explosion of new activist organizations and civic campaigns, from the Feminist Anti-War Resistance movement and the emigre support network Kovcheg to myriad decolonial initiatives and projects created to help Russian men evade military service. For much of Russian civil society whether at home or abroad 2023 has been a year of continuous adaptation, developing new ways to persist despite the Kremlin’s relentless efforts to stamp them out completely. Down but not out Amid unprecedented polit
The Russian authorities are, amid the ongoing hostilities and losses in Ukraine, automatically extending the contracts of those already on the frontline and trying to recruit soldiers to avoid another partial or general mobilization ahead of the upcoming presidential elections.
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At a critical phase in Russia’s war on Ukraine, U.N. human rights reports and news accounts illuminate a deepening contrast between the two nations’ adherence to humanitarian conduct amid war, notably in their treatment of prisoners. As Russian forces publicize and celebrate their brutalization of prisoners, Ukraine is striving to apply global norms rooted in a wartime order, 160 years ago this week, by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. Sustaining support for Ukraine’s adherence to international humanitarian law can help determine which patterns of conduct, brutal or humane, will shape the world in which our children will live.
After decades of apathy, Russian officials seem to recognize the military needs to communicate better with families of missing and injured soldiers. But will that mean more honesty or obfuscation?