This text is a collective statement of Russian-speaking anarchist collectives (see the list of signatories below). It should have been published even earlier, but now it’s really the time for a consolidated statement about the war in Ukraine. We do not claim to represent the stance of each and every anarchist from Russia, but the need for a clear position, and contradictions associated with the war in Ukraine lead to the necessity to act as a united movement.

In the eleven years of the war, and especially over the past three years, we have seen various reactions to the struggle of Ukrainian society against Russian aggression. Comrades from the Ukrainian anarchist movement joined self-defense both at the front line and behind it. Russian propaganda, the lack of awareness about what is happening, dogmatism and the contradictions brought by the war caused turmoil in all political movements.

The anarchist movement was also divided into two camps: support or condemnation. During the war, events organized in support of Ukraine by “Solidarity Collectives” and other anti-authoritarian initiatives have encountered great problems. At some European anarchist venues, talks by comrades from Ukraine and Belarus were attacked and sabotaged. 

It is important to note that throughout the war years, there was no constructive discussion at the movement level to develop coordinated and cohesive stances and actions. This led to lack of practical solidarity and to superficial analysis. This also led to people trying to dictate what the Ukrainian anarchists should be doing, although these people themselves often do not know the practical reality of this war. This reveals a terrible lack of understanding and camaraderie within the movement. In addition to event disruptions, the problem got to the point of deliberate laughter during a minute of silence in memory of the deceased comrades. Such cases emphasize that we do not always remember who our enemy is. The authorities thrive on our separation, lack of respect for the deceased comrades, and hostile attitude towards each other. Discrepancy in tactics and views is inevitable for a revolutionary movement, but our enemies should not be allowed to use it.

Information warfare forms discourse, changing thinking. It’s difficult to resist it, because this war is not apparent. It does not act rudely and sometimes it is skillfully woven into existing stances, confirming them, instead of allowing our analysis to adapt to the changing reality. At the same time, information warfare pursues the same goals as real fighting. It is easy to forget that the war is fought on the information field as well. But, like in real fighting, it is necessary to take a stance based on ideology and principles.

The complexity of the situation in which the Ukrainian comrades found themselves, and the reaction to their actions by foreign collectives shows the reality of problems in the anarchist movement. Also, the war in Ukraine itself is another wake-up call showing what we will have to face in the future. We already observe the rise of right-wing forces in Europe, both in politics and in the mood of society in general. Taking this into account, we would like to call comrades from the Western countries to heed to the opinions of those who have already faced ugly and cruel reality of war and dictatorship. State systems are moving in exactly this direction, and at some point you can wake up in a country with a fascist regime and bombs flying over your head.

Russia is a pillar of authoritarianism and fascism

n its current ideological agenda, the Russian state uses the events of the past to present itself as an imaginary “anti-fascist” force. But, exactly like a century ago, Russia remains an empire today. Rewriting history, lies and manipulations with concepts follow the logic of empire-style patriotism, which has been imposed on Russian society since the Tzars’ times. This ideological brainwashing of the population is necessary to strengthen the state power, rally together the elites and classes of the country and to transform the economy to the military needs.

In their turn, far-right movements are thriving in this new phase of Russian authoritarianism. The war gave Russian ultra-right the carte-blanch and the opportunity to merge with the state in their agenda of ultra-violence. Many prominent Russian-side participants of the war, especially military propagandists, are associated with local fascist or Neo-Nazi groups. Ultra-right group “Russian commons” (“Русская община”) functions under the patronage Bastrykin, the head of the national Investigative Committee. Reports of far-right violence have been growing since the beginning of the war. For groups and bloggers supporting the war, any statements and actions are allowed, as long as they do not contradict the Kremlin’s political course.

Putin’s Russia actively supports far-right and conservative movements across Europe, from the National Front in France to the AfD in Germany. They thank the Kremlin with their demands to lift the sanctions against Russia and to stop military aid to Ukraine. Western anarchist groups should take it into account when formulating their positions on the weapons supply to Ukraine.

The Russian state’s claims about “fighting fascism in Ukraine” are hypocritical attempts to justify its military aggression motivated by capitalist and imperial interests. We do not deny that far-right groups do operate in Ukraine (as in many other countries). But it is also important to remember that Russian colonial policy contributed a lot to their emergence.

This is not simply capitalist and imperial confrontation between the two blocs

This war is imperial aggression of Russia and punishment of Ukraine for its disloyalty to Putin. That this war is also built into the global confrontation between many geopolitical forces does not change this fact. Imperialism of Western countries does not diminish or justify Russian imperialism, attacking the cities of Ukraine right now. Moreover, this war must be understood in the global context of what the Zapatistas call “The Fourth World War.” Consequences of neoliberalism and fascism are becoming more pronounced. Destruction of human dignity and our environment occurs on a massive scale. This is the reality and the challenge that the anarchist movement and all the freedom movements have to face. The war in Ukraine shows how much each and every society needs self-defense against the state. This is a part of the war that has long been knocking on your door. Comrades from Ukraine can be the best allies in this war, since they have already taken this terrible blow and they have a unique experience of survival and resistance in their context. If comrades in Europe really want to resist this and future wars, then it is of utmost importance to establish contacts and exchange experience in order to understand how to organize in their countries and societies.

Many geopolitical forces are participating in the Ukraine war, and each of them pursues its own interests. There is nothing new in it, so it will be in all future wars. Where is the position of the anarchist movement here? A simple “against the war” stance is not enough. Our movement needs to be on the side of the society. In Russia and Ukraine, in practice, this will mean different things. In the current situation in Ukraine, the interests of the society and the anarchist movement (the need for survival and self-defense) partially overlap with the interests of the state at the tactical level. In Russia, the situation is different: the interests of the aggressor state are opposite to the interests of the society. That’s why it might seem easy to fight against the empire from within, on the side of the society. However, Russian anarchist movement encounters many problems when interacting with the society, which is often brainwashed by propaganda. In reality, there are no contradictions between the interests of the societies of Russia and Ukraine, it is only the state standing on the way of cooperation.

In this regard, it is important to have a strong ideological core and a strategic line which will allow us to endure the long-term revolutionary struggle during and after the war. Already now, European movements and collectives could be in dialogue with comrades in Ukraine and discuss joint resistance against the invasion and future struggles after the war is over, when domestic policy of the Ukrainian state will become the subject of serious social conflicts. At the moment, there is no such strategic line, and no strong movement. Thus, there is no long-term perspective that would allow comrades in Europe to see beyond current contradictions and compromises.

Many readers of this texts are familiar with the notion of “Russian world”. In the understanding of the Russian state, “Russian world” is a sphere of political, economic, military or ideological influence of Russia. In other words, this is good old imperialism. But still there are people in global anarchist movement who harbor sympathy to “Russia as an idea.” The result is sometimes that trying to take a stance against Western imperialism, comrades miss the problem of “Russian world”, as well as the problems of a loose bloc of states historically opposed to the West in alliance with Russia: Belarus, China, Iran, North Korea, etc.

“Russian World” is not a solution to the problem of Western imperialism. All nostalgia about the former “socialist” state should be left to the past. Modern Russia is a mutated version of right-wing neoliberalism. It is much more aggressive than the European version, and in case of victory it will not flirt with freedom of association, assembly, or media. You don’t have to love Ukrainian state to resist Russian regime. Our Ukrainian comrades, many of whom have been to Russia, know very well what the defeat of Ukraine will bring. The same is true for Belarusian and Russian comrades who fled to Ukraine because of political repression in their countries well before 2022. 

Means and goals are related, and goals do not justify the means. One of the main goals of the anarchist movement is resisting the state not only at the ideological level, but also in practice. Tactically, this may mean resistance to the rising of authoritarian states, of which Russia is a perfect example.

Think critically about your sources

Anarchist community is not homogeneous in any country or region. If you have a stance you cherish, anywhere you can find at least on (even if very marginal) group conforming to this stance. Often we see exactly this happening: European comrades stumble upon a Russian or Ukrainian group with the position like “all sides in this war are rotten, there is nothing to be done”, and they start propagating this stance.

Indeed, in Ukraine there is a group focusing mostly on criticizing the Ukrainian state: "Assembly" from Kharkiv. In Russia, the KRAS-MAT project (“Confederation of Revolutionary Anarcho-Syndicalists — International Workers’ Association”) takes a similar stance. They bombard Western anarcho-syndicalist organizations with statements. With the logic of “both sides are rotten”, these statements make it easy to avoid digging deeper into the problem of the war.

We believe that the KRAS-MATstatements should be taken with a large grain of salt. By inertia, it is still present in many international mailing lists and federations, but in reality it is a small group which does not represent the position of the majority of Russian anarchists. As far as we know, the “Assembly” project does not represent the position of the majority of Ukrainian anarchists either.

We are not trying to present the groups mentioned above as some sort of absolute evil. They may have useful projects and achievements in the past or in other directions not related to the war. But we believe that their “anti-militarist” position on the war in Ukraine seems is deeply wrong; it certainly is not mainstream among Russian and Ukrainian anarchists. Let’s look at this “anti-militarism” in more detail.

Passive anti-militarism is not a solution, it’s part of the problem

Criticism towards our Ukrainian comrades usually stems from dogmatic anti-militarism. This dogma pronounces that wars can be stopped only by the solidarity of the working classes of all sides. As a result, it leads to ideological puritanism — comrades are becoming unable to face contradictions of wars (for example, cooperation with state armies), they do not take into account geopolitical specifics in different contexts and they cannot continue struggle in practice because the ideals do not match ugly reality.

The “we must stop the war” mantra equates the war sides as if they were unruly kids to be reconciled. But in this war, the sides are fundamentally unequal, and “express peace” will mean victory of Russia, occupation of some part of Ukraine and strengthening Putin regime in the future.

Resisting Russian aggression led to a clash with the dogmas of our movement and to re-evaluation of what seemed unacceptable before. In this war, the interests of the Ukrainian state and the interests of the Ukrainian anarchists partially overlapped. It is obvious to us why the comrades prefer to fight in the ranks of the Ukrainian army and gain access to weapons and other resources. It is also clear to us why they did not try to resurrect some grotesque version of Makhnovshchina with three rifles per squad, just to valiantly fight “against all” and to be completely destroyed a week later. Having said that, we acknowledge that building some sort of a “third power” is a right goal strategically. However, under the conditions in which the war caught the Ukrainian anarchist movement, direct and effective action against the authoritarian regime expansion is a reasonable anarchist reaction to the war. Anarchist communities of Belarus, Ukraine and Russia acted in many different ways: organized street protests, mutual aid and volunteering, helped refugees in Ukraine, sabotaged military infrastructure in Russia, etc. This included joining the Ukrainian army. All these actions should be seen as a continuum of resistance against the invasion — resistance carried out across borders, different approaches, tactics and contradictions.

Therefore, we are worried about the trend among the Western anarchists on criticizing aid to Ukraine. It is not surprising that local struggles are often closer and more clear. For example, for Greek anarchists one of the most important topics is resisting US colonialism and NATO military bases. Of course, in general NATO is no better than Russia. However, in this case, support for Ukraine resistance is beneficial not only to the Western and Ukrainian elites, but also to the anarchist movement in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and other neighboring countries subject to Russian state influence and threats. It is even more true if we recall that the anarchist movement has already been completely destroyed once in this part of the world by the Soviet Union. It will certainly happen again if Russia preserves its influence in the region via military means. The same future awaits all the countries that will go under the Russian sphere of influence.

Against the boycott of Ukrainian and Belarusian anarchists

A number of anarchist initiatives have decided to exclude Ukrainian and Belarusian anarchists from their websites and events. In particular, Balkan Anarchist Bookfair refused to accept the participation of the Ukrainian “Solidarity Collectives” project, justifying it as follows:

“We were very concerned that such a proposal is submitted while the Ukrainian state is kidnapping people from the street and sending them by force to the slaughterhouse of war. So our response to hosting the presentation you proposed is negative.”

Of course Ukrainian anarchists never called for kidnapping people to send them to the front lines. This justification of exclusion does not have anything to do with reality. 

Also, anarchist Indymedia Athens refused to publish posts by “Solidarity Collectives” for the following reasons: 

“This is a call to take sides in a war, with a nation that at this point stands as the frontline of NATO in the West-Russian war. This has nothing to do with the political views of Athens Indymedia, that are anti-war and anti-imperialist at their core.”

At the same time, Indymedia Athens is full of materials against Israel invasion to Palestine: a place which is as well a frontline of a war between NATO and Iran with its allies. Fighting imperialism is not always devoid of violence and often requires weapons provided by states. Anti-militarist stance of Indymedia Athens does not feel logical or consistent. Note that Berlin Anarchist Bookfair in 2024 and 2025 also rejected Belarus anarchists. 

And here the main problem is not the stance of Balkan and Berlin Anarchist Bookfairs or Indymedia Athens. Anarchist movement should be open to discussion, and not everyone has to agree to one and only definition of imperialism or to specific anti-militarist tactics. The problem lies in the attempts to completely exclude anarchists from entire regions — at exactly the time when these regions are subjects of imperialist aggression aimed at fascist violent assimilation and destruction of national identity. While Putin is claiming that Belarus and Ukraine people do not exist, Balkan and Berlin Anarchist Bookfairs and Indymedia Athens are excluding Eastern Europe comrades from the anarchist movement: by the lack of understanding of different stances, by unwilling to see the context, by inability to accommodate the contradictions these comrades are facing right now.

What we suggest

• Question the information coming to you. Try to learn the opinions of all relevant groups, especially those involved in local initiatives and less visible internationally.
• When making statements about Ukraine, ask for feedback from local comrades to clarify and update your understanding of the situation.
• We call on everyone to remember the basics of anarchist ethics: what is important is unity not estrangement, solidarity not opposition. It may be obvious, but still when we face contradictions, we often forget how to deal with our comrades in fighting.
• Openly oppose attempts to exclude Belarusian and Ukrainian anarchists from anarchist movement.
• Learn from the wars in Ukraine, Syria and other countries in order to create the conditions for the emergence of a revolutionary “third power” capable of defending the society at all levels in the case of a war.

To sign this statement, or for other questions, please write toanarchiststatement@riseup.net

Signatories:

• Autonomous Action
• Antijob
• DIAna (Irkutsk Anarchist Movement)
• Combat Organization of Anarcho-Communists (BOAK)
• Anarchist group in emigration “Peripheria”
• Anarchist Black Cross — Irkutsk
• Ivan Astashin
• Khubiskhal
• AKRATEIA
• Black Square
• Black Loudspeaker
• Solidarity Zone
• Feminist Anarchist Solution (Hamburg)
• Lolja Nordic, co-founder of Feminist Antiwar Resistance, coordinator of FAR Vienna