Vladimir Putin has been hit by a fresh result as furious Russian wives take to the streets in part of a new wave of protests.
Partners of Russian wives demonstrated against Putin as part of widely celebrated International Women’s Day events.
Mothers were expected to spearhead initial protests following Putin’s invasion of the ex-Soviet state in February 2022.
However, following mass crackdowns on oppositions, mothers were unable to mobilise similarly to how they had during Russia’s war in Chechnya in the mid-1990s.
The Way Home group has become an important presence at protests across Russia
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The wives of Russian soldiers have seemed to face-down the Kremlin’s desperate efforts to silence them, particularly after Moscow’s mobilisation order in September 2023.
The Way Home group has become an important presence at the protests after issuing a manifesto in November 2023.
Russia, which has been home to female anti-war activism for decades, witnessed fresh protests on International Women's Day.
Maria Andreeva, whose husband Ivan received his draft summons in October 2022, is among those taking action.
She told The Wall Street Journal: “I’m acting in the best interests of my family.
“I want a husband, I want my daughter to have a father.
"I didn’t marry a military man. I believe that he’s more than paid his duty to his homeland.”
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Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered his annual address to the Federal AssemblyREUTERSAndreeva added: “The child doesn’t know her daddy. My husband’s only desire is to return home to me and my daughter as soon as possible.
"It’s hard, hurtful and painful for him to be apart from us.”
Andreeva also conceded how women being "scared" remains normal but stressed the need to prioritise their plight.
Anti-war women's groups have been supported by a number of anti-Kremlin figures, including Boris Nadezhdin.
Nadezhdin, whose challenge to Putin was blocked, held a meeting with the women during his short-lived campaign.
He said: "It was impossible to listen to many without tears and anger. Their children are growing up without fathers.”
Dozens of The Way Home were detained last month after gathering at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier while wearing white headscarves and bringing carnations.
A man comes together with members of the women's movement "Way home" to lay flowers to the Unknown Soldier's Tomb
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Russian lawmaker Oleg Matveychev last year even proposed banning feminism as an “extremist ideology,” a label which was recently applied to what authorities described as the “LGBT movement”.
Activist Viktoria Privalova told Politico: “It’s clear the authorities see women as a threat and feel their power, but no one understands how to contain them.”
However, the Kremlin has steered clear from enforcing a harsher crackdown, as seen with other dissenting groups, ahead of Putin's all but secure re-election poll.
Addressing how Moscow might wish to shut them down, Andreeva claimed: “They’re not ready to openly confront us.
“They believe that they can fight us by other means, bad-mouth us, shame us for wanting our men back.
"And they believe that, little by little, they will be able to bury this matter. Well, let them think so."
She also revealed she received letters from the Kremlin's Defence Ministry, urging her to "fulfill military duty with dignity".
