The Times: Russian Women Rebell After FSB Threats

Military wives called Putin the ‘King Rat’.

A group of wives of Russian soldiers accused the FSB of forcing their husbands to lie about conditions at the front in Ukraine. If they refuse, those who disagree are threatened with being sent to death. This is stated in the material of The Times.

The Way Home group reportedly consists mainly of families of mobilized men and seeks their return from indefinite mobilization to the front.

“Guests from the FSB have already begun systematically visiting the husbands of our activists,” reads a message on the group’s Telegram channel.

“They call the mobilized for interrogation and take their phones away and don’t give them back. They also seek information about their wives. This is followed by threats like “record a video that you are happy with everything here, otherwise, we will send you into a one-way assault.”

The group, which tried to organize protests and flood Putin's annual news conference with questions about when their husbands would return, said the FSB told soldiers to "shut up” their wives.

Putin tried to deflect questions from the relatives of the soldiers. They were concerned about their fate in Ukraine, arguing that the Ministry of Defence was responsible for this.

In their post, the couple directly attacked Putin, asking: “Why do we need a president who pretends we don’t exist? Who lives only on the TV, completely under his control? These are obvious methods of cowards and rats. Who is our King Rat?

The publication notes that in Russia direct criticism of Putin is rare because it is very dangerous, and opposition leaders are often jailed or killed. Criticism of the war against Ukraine also carries the risk of imprisonment.

Although the message was written anonymously, the group often shares videos where Russian women say that wounded conscripts are returned to duty, that their exhausted husbands have their mobilization extended, and call for help returning them from the front to their families before they die.

According to The Times, pressure on Putin from military families is growing despite the danger, as relatives grow increasingly desperate that there is no soon end of the war visible.