‘‘This is not the people’s war. This is Putin’s war,’’ the photographer told the Otago Daily Times.
Yesterday, as the Russian invasion of Ukraine entered its 12th day, anti-war demonstrators throughout Russia again took to the streets in their thousands.
They protested despite a new law allowing jail terms of up to 15 years for ‘‘fake news’’ about the war. The law extends to protesters with banners daring to call Russia's ‘‘special operation’’ in Ukraine a war. Protesting itself is liable to a 15 day jail term.
The photographer, who the Otago Daily Times has agreed not to name, says protesters in St Petersburg are scared by the new laws but are still out in large numbers, trying to evade arrest by demonstrating in small groups in various parts of the city and then coming together for short periods.
He estimates up to 2000 people were on the streets of St Petersburg yesterday. Up to half have been arrested, he believes.
‘‘My friend is a professional filmmaker. He was filming. I think he has been arrested. He was not wearing a yellow [Press] jacket. I have not heard from him,’’ the photographer said.
Among those he photographed yesterday was octogenarian Elena Osipova carrying a dove-shaped banner bearing the words ‘‘Peaceful and honest Russia for all, only without Putin’’. Osipova is a survivor of the three-year blockade of St Petersburg (then Leningrad) by Nazi Germany, during World War 2. The siege killed an estimated 900,000 civilians.
Since the Ukraine invasion, Osipova has been repeatedly arrested and then released by authorities, only to once again return to the protest.
‘‘She is famous. They have to be careful with her,’’ the photographer said, explaining why Osipova is not imprisoned.
Many citizens of St Petersburg quietly support the mostly young protesters, giving them encouragement, thanks and even flowers as they walk past.
But many others, while they do not openly support the invasion of Ukraine, quietly think Putin was right to seek revenge for the many thousands of pro-Russian separatists killed during the past eight years of conflict in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
Others, however, are open in their support of Putin and the war, the photographer, an accredited member of the media, says.
‘‘Some protesters ran away from the Police. A young man . . . called out to the Police, ‘They went down that alley’.
‘‘I ran down the alley following the Police. When they saw me they screamed, ‘Put down your camera and get out of here’.
He left but waited near the entrance. About 15 young people were led out. The young men, about half of the total number, were arrested and put on a Police bus. The young women were released.
‘‘I know I could be arrested too,’’ the photographer says.
‘‘But I want to do something.
‘‘If these photos can get out then perhaps the people in Ukraine can know people are protesting in Russia. Nobody wants this war.’’
The photographer predicted further, and possibly larger, protests overnight Monday (New Zealand time) on what is a national holiday in Russia, marking International Women’s Day.
‘‘People think maybe the Police will not want to arrest women [protesters] on this day.’’
