Filenews 22 September 2022
Dozens of Russians living permanently in Cyprus gathered yesterday outside the Russian embassy in Nicosia to protest the mobilisation announced by Russia's President, Vladimir Putin. Similar protests also took place in Limassol and Paphos.
Some of the protest participants said they had fled their homes in Russia in recent months after the Russian government launched the so-called "special operation" in Ukraine.
They also said they participated in similar protests in Russia earlier this year, for which they were arrested and fined.
It is worth noting that yesterday demonstrations broke out in Russia and around the world with thousands of people taking to the streets, calling on the Russian government to stop the war and cancel the mobilization.
Russian men are forced to fight in Ukraine against their will, since their refusal to do so is subject to persecution and punishment. Many have already begun to leave the country by all possible means in order to avoid conscription, while air tickets to visa-free destinations have run out.
The Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, Iryna Vereshchuk called on the Russian soldiers to surrender. "They will not be exchanged against their will," he said, explaining that under the Geneva Conventions and Ukrainian law if they do not want to return to Russia, no one will oblige them.
The Russian community of Cyprus will continue the protests in an attempt to send the Russian authorities the message that the Russian people are against the war and that both sides must take down their arms and work for a diplomatic solution.
However, with the prospect of holding the upcoming referendums that Russia will hold in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson and the escalation of the war, the efforts of the protesters may not be enough to change the course of the war.
