Zoya Svetova’s Moscow Diary

Women are becoming more and more influential in Russia. Power and society pay increased attention to their attitude vis-à-vis the “special operation” conducted in Ukraine. On November 25, two days before Mother’s Day, which we celebrate here on the 27th, President Vladimir Putin brought together about fifteen women, all mothers of soldiers.

This meeting was presented by the Kremlin as an exceptional event! Everything had been skilfully planned and the participants, selected in the best tradition of the “Potemkin villages” [trompe-l’œil à usage de propagande, l’expression remonte au règne de Catherine II, NDLR]. Most of the women invited, chosen to represent the various Russian regions, were indeed state officials or mothers of professional soldiers – and not mobilized. Their interventions had the sole purpose of expressing their eternal gratitude to the leader of the Kremlin.

Only one mother had lost her son in battle. But in 2014 in the Donbass and not during the last “special operation”. Vladimir Putin dared to use outrageous statistics to console this mother: “30,000 people die every year in Russia in road accidents, said the Russian president, the number of those killed by alcohol is identical. Your son had lived well, his life had meaning and purpose. »

Disgust

These women sometimes mentioned the lack of equipment or food.