The Council of Wives and Mothers group, which was organized by the relatives of mobilized Russian soldiers, has been blocked on Russian social networking site VKontakte at the Russian Prosecutor General’s request.
In mid-November, Council activists from various Russian cities converged in St. Petersburg, at the headquarters of the Western Military District, demanding that the military resolve problems with conscripts’ provisions and uniforms, look into cases of conscripts sent to war illegally, and start negotiations with Ukraine.
After that, they went to Moscow and demanded a meeting with Vladimir Putin. On November 25, the Russian president held a meeting with mothers of mobilized soldiers, however no members of the Council of Wives and Mothers were invited. The meeting was attended, however, by officials and deputies from pro-Putin conservative political party United Russia.
The leader of the Council of Wives and Mothers is Svetlana Lada-Rus (Peyunova), a former representative of the political party Volya, which the Russian Supreme Court disbanded in 2016 for extremist activities. Peyunova is wanted and has been arrested in absentia on charges of fraud.
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