The war, which began in February 2022 when Russia launched a large-scale attack on Ukraine, has affected not only the military fronts but also the social structure, economy and cultural ties. Political and social tensions in Russia have put intense pressure on the population, forcing hundreds of thousands to flee their country. Following the invasion of Ukraine, an estimated 900,000 Russian citizens and residents left the country. This number includes economic migrants, conscientious objectors and asylum seekers.

 

Women in the country have been forced to struggle with the economic, psychological and social burdens of war. Despite state repression and a climate in which voices against the war are silenced, feminist groups in Russia raised their objections to the war from day one. Showing solidarity with women in Ukraine, they openly expressed their opposition to the war. However, women who opposed the war had to flee their countries due to pressure. One of these women is documentary director and journalist Sonya Groysman. Sonya Groysman, who had to flee her country in early March due to the increasing pressure after the closure of the independent television channel she worked for, has been working as an independent journalist and podcaster in Spain.

 

 

Sonya Groysman spoke to Mezopotamya Agency (MA) about the situation in Russia and women's solidarity with each other.

 

'HARD TO SEE THE REAL PICTURE'

 

Sonya Groysman said that people in Russia are being oppressed because of their anti-war views and that this is why people are unable to voice their real opinions. “It is so hard to see the real picture when people are so scared of saying what they really think, because they don't know who they are speaking to, whether it is independent ologist or someone from FSB, who just wants to put them in jail. There are even cases, when people who were participating in box pops on the streets. We can somehow talk about like the situation and the level of improvement, but it is impossible to see fully the real picture in authoritarian country, because every word, every opinion can be used against you. And of course, people are just scared of expressing it,” she said. Sonya Groysman stated that there are minorities in Russia who support and oppose the war, but the majority simply do not care about the situation. 

 

MOST POWERFUL ANTI-WAR WOMEN

 

Stating that the strongest anti-war movements in the country are led by women, Sonya Groysman said: “Women are the faces of this anti-war movement. There are a kind of partisan silent movements. Other initiatives, for example, one of them is called 'Feminist anti-war resistance' and this movement was created by women and has activists in some regions of Russia. In September, there is a movement of wives of soldiers mobilized during the conscription in 2021. We know that right now more than 1000 Russian citizens are being tried, sent to jail for expressing their opinions. Society is very automized. The authorities have done everything to automatize people. To be able to organize you need to have institutions, and the authorities know this, so they destroyed the institutions. They destroyed every non-governmental unit.

 

What does it mean to stop the war? Does it mean that the places occupied by Russia will remain Russian, which means dehumanization, neutralization of people. And I don't want that for any Ukrainian. Russia just wants them to say 'Hello, I am Russian and I forget everything I knew before that, my country and everything'. This is very cruel. Right now I don't see an option where Russia would say 'OK, take it back' and I can't imagine a situation where Putin would say 'OK, I'll give it to you'. It's not possible to say that.”

 

WOMEN STRONG TOGETHER

 

Noting that Trump's victory in the US elections is a threat to women's rights, Sonya Groysman said that women's solidarity not only against war but against all forms of violence inspires her. “Physical force and weapons, of course, can win in the short distance, but in terms of the long distance, what really inspired me in recent years was Iran and its protests. Because it's generally said to have failed, but the women there are in a much worse situation than we are. I think that makes it very clear how important it is for women to organize. In Afghanistan they were not allowed to talk to each other. This shows that we only have this power when we are together. Because if it wasn't threatening for them, why would it be banned?”

 

Sonya Groysman talked about women helping Ukrainians who are refugees in Russia. She also stated that when they crowdfund their programs, 95 percent of the people who donate to them are women.

 

WOMEN ARE A SOURCE OF INSPIRATION

 

Sonya Groysman continued: “For these three years, women have really been my inspiration, my source of support, my source of strength. In my project, we started the female journalist of the month project because we wanted to support women, female journalists and what they do, because we realized that most of the influencers and people who talk about politics and so on are men and the most important work, the most hard work for research is done by my colleagues. So we wanted to support them because they are an inspiration to me and I just want them to be more recognized.”

 

MA / Hivda Çelebi - Zemo Ağgöz