Russians protest against partial mobilization outside UN headquarters
Geneva, Sep 25 (EFE).- Some 100 Russian citizens protested on Sunday against the Kremlin’s partial mobilization outside the United Nations headquarters in Geneva.
Holding up banners reading “No war, No mobilization” and “Stop Putin before it’s too late,” the protesters are standing against the Kremlin’s announcement of a partial mobilization, calling up 300,000 military reservists, and the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
The demonstration was organized by the Anti-War Committee of Russia under the slogan “Putin’s dying regime is ready to sacrifice unknown numbers of lives in Ukraine.”
Some protesters carried Ukrainian flags and others the white-blue-white flag, a symbol of opposition to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Russia’s president Vladimir Putin announced on Wednesday a partial mobilization of the Russian military, prompting many young Russians to flee the country out of fear of being called to war.
The partial mobilization sparked a series of protests around the world and across Russian cities, in which thousands of people have been detained by police.
Putin said he had signed the decree on the partial mobilization “to protect our motherland, its sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
He added it was needed “to ensure the security of our people and people of the liberated territories,” referring to the mainly ethnic-Russian Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
Defense minister Sergei Shoigu said in a subsequent address that 300,000 reservists will be mobilized in support of what the Kremlin calls the “special military operation” in Ukraine, which began February 24. EFE
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