Russians Against War

 30-year-old Aikhal Ammosov is a member of the local punk rock group Crispy Newspaper. For allegedly "discrediting the Russian army" he faces a possible 3 years in prison. The reason for the case was that he and his partner tried to hang a banner "Yakutian punk against war" in the center of Yakutsk before the visit of Prime Minister Mishustin. Ammosov's actions were extremely noticeable. Not only in Yakutsk, with a population of 341 thousand, but all over Russia.

Aikhal's real name is Igor Ivanov. This year, city court of Yakutsk, the capital of the Republic of Sakha, has already fined him 30,000 rubles under an anti-war administrative article three times.

Until now, my generation was not interested in anything. Many people drink, some go hunting, others are just passive. I have been waiting for someone to publicly present my thoughts and the thoughts of my peers. The fact is that today no politician seems worthy to be called a "man" or "woman." So I decided to do everything myself”, he said in an interview with Rolling Stone. "I grew up in a poor family. As a child, I was aware of the vast differences that exist in our society. Today, some might think that I'm an abnormal punk because I don't drink or smoke. But here we have our own way of understanding things. In the first place is knowledge and intelligence...All the conflicts that Russia starts are similar and tragic. Are meaningless. People are dying because of the whims of officials and oligarchs. Those in power start the aggression, and we, ordinary people, pay the price..."

In a June interview with Sadwave, he said:

"I'm against any wars. It is strange to be for it. Any conscious person who thinks with his own head will be against armed conflicts. We all watched war films. We watched Soviet films. War is always bad. War does not bring anything good. Only death, hunger and poverty. These are elementary things that even a child knows! But people are so stupid that they say that we must fight. They say that war is good. That sooner or later it would happen. Wars must be prevented, not fomented. And do not contribute to their development. I am not a hippie and have never been a peace-loving person. Was not a pacifist. But I have never been for the war. I have read many books about wars. About the Great Patriotic War, about Afghanistan, about Chechnya. I will always be against wars..."

"People are confused. They were deceived. People don't understand what they are doing. Why do they need this war? Everyone wants to live in peace. Everyone wants to live in peace. But they are told that it is necessary. That it is forced. That there was no other way....We want to live. We want freedom. We want to make history."

Siberian punk may be imprisoned for anti-militarist agitation | libcom.org