According to media reports, about two dozen people, mostly journalists, were briefly detained at a protest rally in central Moscow as wives and other relatives of Russian soldiers who had mobilized to fight in Ukraine demanded their return.

The soldiers’ relatives gathered on Saturday to lay flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier just outside the Kremlin walls. They marked the 500th day since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a “partial mobilization” of up to 300,000 reservists in Moscow’s war against Ukraine in September 2022.

The draft was widely unpopular and the wives and relatives of some reservists have lobbied for them to be fired and replaced with contract soldiers.

Saturday’s demonstration was organized by one such campaign group, The Way Home, which called on Telegram on Friday for “wives, mothers, sisters and children” of reservists from across Russia to come to Moscow to “demonstrate.” [their] Unit”.

“We want our husbands back alive,” one of the protesters, who gave her name only as Antonina for fear of reprisals, said in a video published by independent Russian news agency SOTAvision.

Antonina insisted she would not want compensation from the Russian government if her husband was killed, saying she would instead “either go to a monastery or follow it.”

“Unauthorized” event

Saturday’s demonstration was the ninth and largest of similar weekly gatherings organized by The Way Home. A popular Russian news channel Telegram estimated that around 200 people were in attendance.

The Reuters news agency reported that about 20 people were arrested and then released at the protest, including a Reuters journalist who covered the story and an AFP video journalist.

Police arrested 27 people during the protest, mostly journalists, according to OVD-Info, an independent website that monitors political arrests in Russia.

The police had arrested the group of Russian and foreign reporters – all men – in front of Red Square and taken them to a police station.

According to SOTA, most were later released, although one male protester remained in custody as of Saturday evening.

In addition, numerous people who were also protesting against the mobilization were arrested in other places in central Moscow, according to OVD-Info.

Allies of jailed Kremlin foe Alexei Navalny and Russian opposition politician Maksim Kats expressed support for the protest on Friday, while Moscow prosecutors warned Russians early Saturday against taking part in “unauthorized mass events.”

“A great tragedy”

Calls from wives and relatives to bring mobilized Russian reservists home were ignored by the state-controlled media, and some pro-Kremlin politicians tried to portray them as Western stooges. The demonstrators angrily rejected the accusation on Saturday.

Maria Andreyeva, whose husband and brother are fighting in Ukraine, told SOTAvision that she sees the fighting in Ukraine as “a great tragedy between two brotherly peoples.”

“Almost every Russian has close and distant relatives in Ukraine, so… this is a situation that has deeply affected us. After the Second World War, it seemed to us that our grandfathers died so that there would never be another [conflict]“said Andreeva.

Saturday’s protests came weeks before Russia’s presidential election scheduled for March, which Putin is all but certain to win.

After Andreyeva and others laid flowers at the monument, they made their way to Putin’s campaign headquarters to present their demands to him.

Last month, another Russian presidential candidate met with Andreyeva and the relatives of other soldiers campaigning for her return. Former local lawmaker Boris Nadezhdin, who openly opposes the war in Ukraine, criticized the Kremlin’s decision to keep them in the ranks while fighting continues.

“We want [the authorities] To treat people decently when they do their duty,” Nadezhdin said.