Russian Federation

Protection and asylum for all those from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine who refuse military service Action week around the International Conscientious Objection Day

War is a crime against humanity. We condemn Russia’s war of aggression on Ukraine, which is contrary to international law and has led to hundreds of thousands of deaths and injuries and millions of refugees. Those who are sent to the front by their governments are particularly affected.

On the 20th of February 2023, we - Nash Dom, Ukrainian Pacifist Movement, Connection e.V., Federation for Social Defence, European Bureau for Conscientious Objection, International Fellowship of Reconciliation, Agir pour la paix and War Resisters’ International – call for demonstrations outside Belarusian embassies across Europe. These protests will draw attention to the danger of Belarus joining Russia by sending military personnel to attack Ukraine.

EBCO, Connection e.V., IFOR, and WRI strongly denounce the reported detention by the Russian authorities of large numbers of soldiers and mobilised civilians in a number of centres in Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine, because they refuse to participate in the war. Russian authorities are reportedly using threats, psychological abuse and torture to force those detained to return to the front.

Accuracy International (AI) is a British company based in Portsmouth, specialising in the production of high-end, hand built, precision sniper rifles and associated equipment. Weapons manufactured by AI have been used extensively in conflict zones, including states accused of human rights abuses.

In the framework of the #ObjectWarCampaign (Russia, Belarus, Ukraine: Protection and asylum for deserters and conscientious objectors to military service), the International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR), War Resisters’ International (WRI), the European Bureau for Conscientious Objection (EBCO), and Connection e.V.

This Thursday, 1st December, is Prisoners for Peace Day, a day to show solidarity with those activists who have been imprisoned for their work for peace and conscientious objectors imprisoned for their refusal to take up arms.

This year, we want to highlight the situation of many people in Russia and Ukraine that are imprisoned or facing imprisonment for resisting the current war in Ukraine. 

You can find the list of Prisoners for Peace here.

Yekaterinburg-based artist Ivan Lyubimov has been fined three times for "discrediting" Russia's armed forces for protesting against Russia's war in Ukraine with posters with religious themes. Police have also taken him to court twice for conducting an illegal demonstration and jailed him for 30 days. A Moscow court fined 72-year-old Catholic Galina Borisova for pinning a note to the Russian flag outside St Louis' Church. Another Moscow court acquitted district deputy Konstantin Yankauskas, saying that reposting Pope Francis' words on social media had not "discredited" the army.

This Thursday, 1st December, is Prisoners for Peace Day, a day to show solidarity with those activists who have been imprisoned for their work for peace and conscientious objectors imprisoned for their refusal to take up arms. See a list of those imprisoned for their peace activism and conscientious objection here.

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