The war in Ukraine could easily spin out of control as Putin threatens nuclear retaliation if there are attacks on areas that are now supposedly part of the Russian Federation.
Yet the Russian forces are being pushed out of some of these annexed areas. The main reason is that many Russian soldiers do not want to fight.
Putin’s announcement of conscription has been met with big protests throughout Russia. The independent OVD-Info protest monitoring group collated information from 38 Russian cities and stated that more than 1,311 people had been detained on the night the conscription announcement was made.
Public anger has appeared particularly strong in poor ethnic-minority areas such as Dagestan, a Muslim-majority region on the shores of the Caspian Sea in the mountainous north Caucasus
Police earlier fired warning shots into the air after dozens of demonstrators in Dagestan blocked a major road in protest against officials reportedly calling up more than 100 men from a village for military service.
People Before Profit support this resistance to Putin’s war – just as we also oppose NATO’s massive shipments of weaponry to Ukraine.
As a neutral country, Ireland should be to the fore in pushing for peace.
One way it could do this would be by openly welcoming any Russian who refuses to be called up for this bloody war.