MOSCOW – More than a year after President Vladimir Putin summoned 300,000 draftees to fight in Russia’s war in Ukraine, some of their families are starting to demand they come home.

Wives, mothers and girlfriends of mobilised Russian soldiers have begun protests calling on the Kremlin to bring their men back from the war.

Their movement, called The Way Home, has gained more than 37,000 followers on its Telegram channel in support of calls for demobilisation of the troops called up in September 2022.

So far, the authorities have limited their response to sending the police to warn organisers against protesting.

While the number involved now is relatively small, the movement risks embarrassing the Kremlin as Mr Putin prepares for presidential elections in March 2024.

Officials claim overwhelming public support for the invasion of Ukraine that has lasted almost two years with no end in sight. 

“We are in favour of complete demobilisation, not rotation. We don’t want anyone to go through what we went through,” said Ms Maria, 26, from Moscow, an activist whose boyfriend was among the first to be drafted.

“I personally want the military operation to end. How can you feel good about the fact that people die every day, that someone’s body gets eaten by rats in the fields?”

Ms Maria asked not to disclose her surname or identify her boyfriend, fearing official retaliation.

She said she had expected the army to send him home from Ukraine after six months and then after a year, until “the full realisation came that the authorities are not going to bring our men back to us”. 

Mobilisation is a sensitive question for the Kremlin.

Mr Putin’s decision to order the partial call-up caused a spike in anxiety among Russians over the war and triggered an exodus of hundreds of thousands of people who fled the country to avoid the draft.

The Kremlin has denied suggestions of a second wave of mobilisation.

Mr Putin, who said 617,000 Russian troops were deployed in Ukraine, acknowledged at his marathon news conference last week that public concern over a new draft was a “burning issue”, while insisting there was no need for one now.

While surveys by the Moscow-based Levada Centre show about three-quarters of Russians say they support the invasion, some 60 per cent also worry the war may lead to a general mobilisation.

A majority say they favour peace negotiations to end the conflict.