Arriving in Armenia for the summit of the Russia-led CSTO military alliance, Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin was greeted in Yerevan by demonstrations against the war in Ukraine. Hundreds of Armenians and Russian emigrants staged at least three protests in the city centre, chanting slogans such as “Putin is a murderer” and “no to war,” writes the Moscow Times.
In Armenia there is discontent with Putin, accused of failing to protect the country in the conflict with Azerbaijan over the disputed region of Nagorno Karabakh. The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), whose summit is held in Yerevan, brings together Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
Meanwhile, Putin is accused of avoiding confrontation with the mothers of Russian soldiers at the front in Ukraine who accuse him of having excluded them from a meeting scheduled for tomorrow in the Kremlin with the relatives of the soldiers. “Does Vladimir Vladimirovich have the courage to look us in the eyes, not in the eyes of specially chosen mothers and women, but of real women who have come from different parts of the country to meet him?” said Olga Tsukanova, President of the Council of Wives and mothers, in a video posted on Telegram.
The English-language online newspaper Moscow Times recalls Putin’s live TV criticism when, after the sinking of the Kursk submarine, days after the tragedy, he went to Murmansk to meet the families of the victims, underlining that probably the Russian President he wants to avoid a repeat of a situation like that. But in this case, the mothers reached Moscow: “We are here, ready to meet you. We are waiting for your answer. Or will you continue to hide?” Tsukanova wrote.
“We’ve been followed all day. People with their faces covered. And after realizing we had cameras in hand, they turned and walked away. It can only be the services. Isn’t that what they’re paid for?” , wrote in a statement the organization which has about 500 members and has long been asking the Ministry of Defense for transparency on the destination of soldiers and permission to speak openly about the problems of military service and mobilization without incurring criminal charges. The Council invited the Minister of Defense, Sergei Shoigu to a round table in which he obviously did not participate.
“It’s a very difficult time. We have never had thousands of requests for help in one week before,” added Valentina Melnikova, secretary of the Committee of Russian Soldiers’ Mothers, another organization.
