Taking on a Military Power: The Committee of Soldiers’ Mothers of Russia

Written By The Gender Security Project

The mothers of Russian Soldiers have played a pivotal role in calling for the end of war as an institution. Resisting violence and militarism, their efforts have consistently pushed back against Russia’s war policies.

A beginning

The Committee of Soldiers’ Mothers of Russia was established in 1989, as an organized response to the mistreatment of Russian soldiers during war and forced military service for young men who were still in school. Founded in 1989 by Maria Kirbasova, the initial efforts of the committee resulted in the return of 17,600 men a year earlier than expected from military service. The initiative, over time, shifted to oppose war as an institution altogether. During the Chechen War, they went on the “March of Parental Compassion,” as an act to resist the war between Russia and Chechnya.

In January 1995, they carried out their first anti-war vigil in the Red Square to commemorate the lives lost in Chechnya. A smaller group went into a Chechen military zone and stayed there for a month, confronting and negotiating with Russian military commanders to release soldiers, and they ultimately succeeded. When the group was outnumbered by the police and press during one of their vigils, they changed tack and held a conference called “For life and Freedom.” This brought together 200 participants, all of whom discussed the war and the movement against it. Many of their endeavours to resist the war included poetry readings, flower offerings, and pledges to non-violence.

This led to the “March of Parental Compassion” where religious leaders also participated. The match started at the Kremlin Wall in Moscow, and ended in the militarised zone in Grozny where they aimed to learn about and negotiate the release of Russian soldiers and to raise awareness of the atrocities committed in the war. The women carried posters that read, “The war in Chechnya is a shame” and “Bring our sons home.” They also collected signatures on a petition calling for the end of war. The march was stopped on March 18th when the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs threatened to stop the march after checking all of the participants’ documents. They were allowed to leave by train, but were taken to a Russian military base, and eventually released.

The group also delivered humanitarian aid and took a Russian parliamentarian to see the impact of the war, and how it had torn while towns apart. The parliamentarian reported on ask that he saw in a press conference. The group also released and read out a statement to shed light on the events as they unfolded. The Russian government inked a statement claiming that the entire claim was an over-dramatization. The women continued on their marches, including Chechen mothers and religious leaders. The war eventually ended in 1996. Even if there are no "directly attributable” outcomes to their activism, the campaigns they undertook were powerful acts of subversion and resistance to war and militarism.  

Continuing their Fight in the face of Repression

The Committee has continued to resist Russia’s militarism. In August 2014, the group was labelled a “foreign agent,” as a retaliatory move punishing them in response to their statements denouncing Russia’s fighting in Ukraine. The Committee has not been able to secure funding from non-Russian sources since May 2014. The current head of the Committee in Budennovsk, Lyudmila Bogantenkova, was detained in October 2014 to intimidate the group. In St. Petersburg, the Committee was forced to stop some of its activities when they were subject to Russia’s foreign agent law, which imposed criminal liability. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the Committee was contacted by the parents of several soldiers, saying that their sons had been conscripted into the army to fight against Ukrainian forces. However, the foreign agent status has made it very difficult for the group to continue their fight.

 References

The Gender Security Project
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