UK intel flags Russian military morale cracks amid family protests decrying ‘indefinite’ front duty

Russian military personnel and their relatives see their long-term deployment at the front without the possibility of rotation as unsustainable, the UK’s Defense Intelligence said in its latest Ukraine situation report, published on Nov. 20.

On Nov. 7, the wives of the Russian soldiers deployed to Ukraine held what was probably the first public street protest in Moscow since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion.

According to UK intelligence, the protesters gathered on Teatralnaya Square in the center of the Russian capital and unfurled banners demanding that their husbands be withdrawn from the front line.

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UK intelligence noted that since February 2022, examples of online appeals from Russian wives and mothers protesting about the conditions of service of their relatives have been appearing on social media every day.

Read also: Russian soldiers lack training, motivation, and are refusing to fight, UK intelligence says

However, the Russian legislation has not yet allowed relatives of the military to unite into an influential lobbying force, UK intelligence notes.

The intelligence agency adds that the police dispersed the protest in a matter of minutes. However, the protesters' immediate demand was clear.

"The apparently indefinitely extended combat deployments of personnel without rotation is increasingly seen as unsustainable by both the troops themselves and by their relatives," the UK intelligence service concluded.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine