The organization of the same name found itself on the Russian blacklist of “foreign agents”. The way back (road of return in Italian), made up of mothers, wives and daughters of Russian soldiers employed during the invasion of Ukraine, who are fighting for the return of their loved ones from the front. The decision was taken by Moscow's Justice Ministry, which accuses the movement of having painted “a negative image” of Russia and its army, and of having “encouraged illegal demonstrations” against the government. The Foreign Agents Register is a tool used by the Russian government to target political opponents, human rights activists and non-governmental organizations that criticize Kremlin policies. Being on this list involves strict administrative control and requires organizations labeled as foreign agents to operate under strict supervision, often forcing many to close their doors.
What is the Way Home movement
Specifically, the name of Maria Andreyeva, 34 years old and one of the leaders of the Way Home movement, who issued a statement toAfp condemning the Kremlin's decision as “unjust” and announcing his intention to challenge it. The Way Home movement originated in September 2022, about seven months after the invasion of Ukraine, when Russian soldiers were mobilized to reinforce troops after kyiv retook parts of the country. The wives and mothers of some of the 300,000 men called to arms began to organize public demonstrations and develop an alternative discourse to that of the state, demanding demobilization and pointing the finger at the government and President Vladimir Putin, accused to be directly responsible for the situation. responsible for the war. The movement communicates primarily via Telegram, where it has more than 38,000 members. However, it is subject to frequent attacks from pro-government bots, and since December 2023, it has been flagged as fake by the platform due to excessive reporting.
Other targets on the blacklist
In addition to the Way Home movement and its members, the Kremlin extended the blacklist to the newspaper Sota, targeted for their opposition to the invasion of Ukraine, human rights activist Marina Litvinovitch and Ekaterina Duntsova, a famous pacifist journalist and political foreigner who had already been banned by the authorities from running in the March presidential elections . In 2022, the European Court of Human Rights condemned Russia for enacting the 2012 Foreign Agents Law, emphasizing that the law violates the rights to freedom of association and freedom of expression. Despite international guidelines, the Russian regime continues to suppress internal dissent and has passed a gag law that provides for up to 15 years in prison for those who oppose the invasion of Ukraine.
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