Speech by PSL activist Andrei Demidov at the anti-war congress in London June 20, 2026.

Salut camarades! 

I represent the Post-Soviet Left Union and the Russian-Ukrainian coalition Peace from Below.
But at  first I am a person from Russia.

My comrades are sitting in Putin's prisons.
Others continue anti-war work underground and cannot reveal their names.

The western media and political elites constantly repeat that there is no resistance to the war in Russia.

This is not true. 

After four years of war, resistance to it finally becomes massive.

But this is rarely an open protest.
More very often this  is "the weapons of the weak."
Sabotage.
Draft evasion.
Desertion.
Refusal to take part in the war.

Today, thousands of Russians ask courts to send them to prison for desertion rather than return to the trenches.
But most deserters are simply forced back to the front.
We know of at least one hundred twenty thousand cases of desertion since the beginning of the war.

So What is Putin's main problem today?

Putin's main problem is a shortage of people willing to fight.
People are resisting.
Quietly.
Individually.
Often without organization or political representation.

And it is precisely this passive resistance of millions that is becoming the greatest threat to Putin's war machine. That is why we are launching an international campaign of solidarity with Russian deserters.

But Putin's regime has found an unexpected ally -
Western governments.
A few days ago, Ursula von der Leyen declared:
"Europe remains closed to anyone who participated in the invasion of Ukraine. As simple as that."
But it is not simple at all.
Who exactly is she talking about?
Russian soldiers who refused to fight.
People who laid down their weapons.
Deserters fleeing Putin's army.

Putin persecutes these people.
Military police hunt them down.
And now European governments want to punish them as well.

Why they help Putin's regime keep soldiers at the front?
The answer is simple.
It follows from the logic of militarization.
Because endless increases in military spending require not a human being on the other side of the front line, but an existential enemy.

But this same logic helps Putin stay in power.
Because fear of defeat is his most important political resource.
Millions of people remain loyal to the regime not because they love the war.
But because they fear what will come after defeat.

That is why Russians must be offered peace, not defeat.
That is why supporting deserters is not a humanitarian gesture.
It is a political strategy.

We show millions of Russians that on the other side of the border they will find allies, not only sanctions and punishment.
We show them that another future is possible.
Not military victory.
Not a deal between rulers.
But peace from below.
A peace based on self-determination, democracy, and solidarity between peoples.