Putin's Election Headquarters Disrupted by Angry Wives of Russian Soldiers

The disgruntled wives of mobilized Russian soldiers recently confronted a staff member at Russian President Vladimir Putin's election headquarters.

Putin, who has led Russia for nearly 25 years as its president or prime minister, is seeking yet another term in a presidential election set to take place in March. Although he is facing challengers, Putin is likely to be reelected by a wide margin in a contest that most international observers expect to be manipulated.

However, the president's popularity has taken a tiny hit amid domestic discontent and increasing criticism over Russia's continuing war in Ukraine, which is nearing its second anniversary. Family members of Russian troops have been particularly vocal, with some openly protesting the war or making direct appeals to Putin.

A video shared to X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday by Ukrainian internal affairs adviser Anton Gerashchenko shows two women in a tense exchange with a Putin campaign official while standing in a corridor surrounded by people taking images of the confrontation.

"Wives of Russian mobilized men went to Putin's election headquarters to find out what should be done to get their husbands back from the front," Gerashchenko wrote while sharing the video. "A representative of the headquarters told them a lot of interesting things."

Gerashchenko went on to translate some of the purported quotes from the representative, including, "Your husband is the only one who wants to go home," "Men are unique creatures and want to fight" and "Letting fighters go back to their families is to humiliate their dignity."

Newsweek reached out for comment to Putin's office via email on Monday.

The relatives of at least 500 Russian troops who were purportedly slaughtered in late 2022 by Ukrainian forces in the Luhansk region after being sent to war as "cannon fodder" have been repeatedly sending Putin "written complaints" demanding accountability since then, according to The Kyiv Post.

Earlier this month in Moscow, the wives, daughters and mothers of mobilized Russian troops protested the war and conditions for their loved ones by laying flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on the Kremlin wall, according to The Moscow Times.

"The protest, which is not yet very dangerous for the authorities, is being perceived with double attention, especially ahead of the March presidential elections," Russian political analyst Dmitry Oreshkin told the outlet.

"Neither [Putin] nor his team has experience in a long and tedious war," he continued. "Against this background, the consequences of the protest by the relatives could be unpredictable."

Meanwhile, there currently appears to be no end in sight for the war, with both countries unable to agree on terms to even begin peace negotiations.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also recently dismissed the notion of agreeing to any ceasefire, while a British Defense Ministry assessment concluded earlier this month that the conflict had reached a stalemate.

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