“February lasts a year.” February 24 – Day of Remembrance and Sorrow

February 24 marks the one year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. This is the year of Putin’s fascism and the daily genocide of the Ukrainian people. Tens of thousands of Ukrainians and Ukrainian women were injured or killed, millions became refugees. Thousands of houses and dozens of cities have been wiped out by Russian missile strikes. Torture, rape, murder, which the “Russian world” brings with it, last for a year. February lasts a year.

We, activists and activists from various anti-war movements, declare this day a day of memory and mourning for the murdered Ukrainians. There is now a military dictatorship on Russian territory, hundreds of activists are in prison, and more than 20,000 Russian women and Russians have been detained at street protests. We are forbidden to call war a war and tell the truth about war crimes, we are forbidden to mourn. But Putin will not be able to make February 24 a holiday: we will talk about the cost of war.

If you wish to express your grief publicly, you can:

⚫ Set up any public memorial in the city space in memory of those killed : it can be flowers, candles, printed portraits (models can be found here ), black ribbons instead of green ones. Russia has turned many Ukrainian cities into mass graves. Let the consequences of this nightmare be seen in Russian cities. Do not forget about safety: instructions for preparing street actions are here and here .

⚫ Participate in an invisible picket. With the help of augmented reality technology, the FAS made digital posters with portraits and stories of murdered Ukrainian women and Ukrainians: through a mask on Instagram, you can post a portrait anywhere in Russia and send a screen image to the FAS bot . You need to point the camera at your own palm for the poster to appear. Important: do not post photos in your accounts, send screenshots to the bot.

⚫ Turn off the lightsat 20:00 local time in your apartment or institution for 15 minutes.

⚫ Participate in the “Women in Black”campaign – it is still open-ended and universal and suitable for people of any gender. On this day, you can express your grief and attitude towards this war through clothes and its elements. We warn that there is no guarantee that you will not be detained. Safety memo for street actions here and here .

You can also think of any other way to express grief and protest that suits you and your circumstances.

Also, on this day, you can support Ukrainians from the occupied territories, who are still in TACs and lost everything after the invasion. Here is a list of volunteer initiatives to help migrants you can legally donate money to them in rubles.

February lasts a year – and for it to end one day, it is important to continue building sustainable anti-war resistance. Everything should not be limited to symbolic actions, but they can become entry points for new people. There are many of us, and we are against this war. We are many and we remember.

---

Persecution for stickers, flyers and graffiti. How to keep you safe?

OVD-Info writes that at least 20 criminal cases of vandalism have already been opened due to anti-war graffiti throughout Russia. Several administrative cases of discrediting the armed forces were also initiated because of leaflets and stickers.

Despite this, graffiti, green ribbons and other anti-war propaganda continue to appear from Krasnodar to Vladivostok. We want to thank everyone who finds the courage to campaign, and remind you of the safety rules:

1. Instructions “Media Partizan” on how not to get caught when posting stickers and creating graffiti.

2. Our selection of important instructions on how to interact with the police and how to behave when detained or arrested.

Basic rules:

– do not engage in campaigning with strangers, do not go to meetings from unverified chats, do not report your plans in them;

– think over the route so as not to get under the cameras, and cover your face as much as possible so that the cameras do not recognize you;

– wear neutral, inconspicuous clothes that make it difficult to recognize you, and avoid people;

– stick up and apply graffiti at night, return home by a difficult route and be on your guard;

– turn off your phone completely, do not use the car, keep the contacts of human rights activists at hand.

---