Wartime Feminist and Environmental Activism in Russia

• In Event: Activism inside Russia during its War Against Ukraine

Abstract

What types of environmental and feminist activism have taken place inside Russia since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022? And what kinds of new repressive laws and actions has the state taken toward civic organizing, starting at that time? In this paper we draw on Telegram channels, media sources, and data from Russian human rights research and advocacy organizations to trace feminist and environmental activism (and state repression of it) inside Russia after the full-scale invasion began. We focus on short case studies of several organizations’ Russia-based activism and the state’s responses to it, including: the Feminist Anti-war Resistance (FAR), a renowned network of feminist anti-war activists that formed right after the invasion began; Nasiliu Net (No to Violence), a national-level organization primarily providing aid to victims of domestic violence; the Ecological Crisis Group, an organization that monitors repression against environmentalists; and the Nature Preserve Alliance (Zapovedniki allians’), a national-level environmental group lobbying the Russian government to maintain the system of state-sponsored nature preserves.

Authors

• Laura A. Henry, Bowdoin College

• Valerie Sperling, Clark U