Russians who publicly criticize their country’s invasion of Ukraine face the threat of imprisonment. But people have found ways to express their opposition through small displays of resistance. Last year in St. Petersburg, an artist uploaded images of tiny clay figurines in a public space to Instagram under the account Malenkiy Piket, meaning Small Protest. He invited others to join his silent demonstration and has since received about 2,000 images containing homemade figurines. Many include symbols, such as a fish, that have become part of a secret language of resistance to the war. Contributors are able to remain anonymous by sending private Instagram messages to the artist, who then posts their images. Even so, police used surveillance cameras to track and arrest one contributor in 2022. Despite that risk, the artist leading the mini-protests says it’s important to show that Russians oppose the war too. “Not everyone is with Putin,” he says. “We know how the [Russian] media just skips this, cuts out everything that shows people against it.”

The sign on the left says “Stop Killing Children” in Russian. Vladdy is a reference to Russia’s autocratic president, Vladimir Putin. via Instagram
Russia’s Miniature Protesters
Jim McMahon
via Instagram
Calling for peace in St. Petersburg
via Instagram
Fish symbols have come to represent Russia’s antiwar movement because in Russian the word for war is similar to the word for a type of fish. It may have started as a way to get around the Russian government’s harsh restrictions on free speech.
Text-to-Speech