Dear Ms Marta.

While speaking at Monday’s rally in front of the Russian Embassy, you addressed Russians/Russian women living in Europe, accusing them of not coming out to protest. When, in response, several participants/participants reported that they had come out as Russians/Russian women to protest with others, the lady told them: “Get the fuck out!”. One participant with a white/blue/white flag of the Russian anti-war movement was detained and written down by the police. For wanting to clarify that he did not support Putin. For wanting to answer your question about where the Russians are. For the fact that you directed your emotions at him from the stage.

You, as well as Myroslava Keryk standing next to you and Natalia Panchenko, with whom I have known for years, had the opportunity to see that there are Russians who oppose the war. The answer to your question came straight to the front of the stage. How you reacted in this situation only confirms how difficult it is for us to demonstrate our views.

Because if it turns out that we don’t agree with being ripped off from our anti-Putin, pro-Ukrainian position, you tell us: “Get the fuck out!”.

Where do you get your information that the Russians do not oppose the war and do not support the Ukrainians? Sasha Skoczylenko - an LGBTQIA person whose only fault is that she wrote the truth about the war on supermarket price tags - has been in custody in St Petersburg since spring. She suffers from bipolar disorder and torture has been arranged for her in detention for this reason. Do you have no sympathy for her either? Will she walk alone?

One of the few political groups that remain active in Russia to this day and which rallies people to action is the Feminist Anti-War Movement. They often do this underground so that their networks are not destroyed by the government’s repressive apparatus. Not only do they organise actions, but they also help Ukrainian women and Ukrainians get out of refugee camps, get their documents back and leave.

They constitute an ’unseen battalion’ also because Russia is a patriarchal country. Do you also not see these people close to you ideologically? Are they supposed to go alone?

These are examples of the most courageous. There are thousands like Skoczylenko, they have criminal cases. They write letters to them, support them financially and morally by hundreds of thousands of Russian women and men, whom we don’t always see because the Kremlin has deliberately built a wall around them. And yet, despite all this, despite criminal cases for posts and even social network likes, 20 million Russian men and women declare their opposition to the war and Putin in polls. Yes, it’s not the majority, and we are aware of the huge work ahead. Nevertheless, by deleting them, we are playing Putin’s game. They cannot go it alone.

Обвиняемая в «фейках об армии» за развешивание ценников с антивоенными фразами Саша Скочиленко отправлена в стационар на 3 недели на принудительную психиатрическую экспертизу.
Бедная девочка((( карательная психиатрия как один из инструментов политических репрессий pic.twitter.com/LLlksiTtqV

— Stifler’s Mom (@Stifler08150983) June 9, 2022

Also, thousands of Russian women and men in Poland are supporting Ukraine. They organise actions and protests (to which anyone and everyone is welcome), aid for Ukrainian refugees, collections for humanitarian aid, medicines and equipment. Including for military equipment, such as the Polish Bayraktar. There is not a single (not a single!) person who has come to Poland from Russia through our Association who would not get involved in this aid. Hundreds of Russian men and women from all over the world have worked and are working at the aid post on the Polish-Ukrainian border in Medyka, in Krakow, in Warsaw continuously since the first days of Russia’s full-scale aggression against Ukraine. This point operates under the white-blue-white flag, and tens of thousands of people support them financially. Should they go it alone?

Such groups exist in various countries around the world, from Canada to Kyrgyzstan to New Zealand. And in various countries, Russians and Russian women actively go out to protest against the war, including in front of Russian diplomatic missions. Or they are joining protests by other groups. These are already tens of thousands of people.

One can, of course, accuse the Russians/Russian women of doing little or badly, of not doing something earlier or not dealing with Putin now. But wouldn’t it be more productive to support them, to help them organise resistance to Putin, instead of getting into a rather Putinist argument: that they were born with the wrong passport?

The boy written down on Monday was at most 25 years old. Did he and his peers have enough opportunity to beat Putin and his coterie?

Poland’s support for Russian civil society is also of great importance and appreciated by Russian civil society. Poland is one of the leaders in the EU that has started to issue humanitarian visas for Russian dissidents/dissidents (over 1,000 visas since February this year) and has enabled many of them to continue their work despite the destruction of their organisations and communities in Russia. And it was these people, known to me by name, surname and biography, who came to the demonstration at which you spoke on Monday. Where, by the way, do you get your information about the one million who fled to Western Europe before mobilisation? Most have left for Kazakhstan and Georgia in recent weeks.

It seems that in today’s situation, public leaders and women leaders, including you and me, should feel a special responsibility for every word and action. We should pay more attention to each other and see each other as partners, not enemies. Because the greatest gift to Putin is the rejection of universal values and a return to the rhetoric of a dark past dominated by nationalisms, toxic hostility and discrimination. It is up to you and me to decide whether reason and humanism will prevail in society, or uncontrolled emotions that lead to chaos.

Therefore, I invite you to a discussion. Let’s meet in a public forum and talk about how Russians and Russian women can defeat Putin. We are really open/open-minded and curious about your proposal. How the solidarity and support of Europeans, Europeans, Ukrainians and Ukrainians, including you, can help us in this.

I am counting on “You will never walk alone” and not “Get the fuck out”.

Anastasiia Sergeeva President of the Association ’For a Free Russia’

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